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Background of Maritime Industry Maritime industry in one of the oldest industries in this world. For developed country, this industry plays an important role for the advancement of the country itself, Nowadays with the vast movement of the technologies, the ship becomes more advance and sophisticated .
In developing country, the numbers of people joining this career are very limited in compared to the numbers of personnel in developed country. One of it would be the opportunities available ashore is much better/greater than opportunities onshore. Seafaring is there since man first discovered that water is the best mode of moving good and people as it provide the cheapest and most convenient access to its destination. The advancement in maritime transportation from the age of sail to the internal combustion engine witnessed higher level of skill and experience are needed to man such a vessel.
Seafaring evolved to a level of highly qualified profession where specific knowledge and skill are needed to operate the mode of transportation and, experience are needed to ensure safety and efficiency. Seafarers are the heart of the maritime industry. No doubt, without them ships would not trade , cargoes would not be transferred, and the marine industry will collapse. Much criticism has been leveled in recent years at the lack of standards and skills displayed by many mariners at sea, and the high incidence of human error as a causal factor in many casualties.
It has been stated at International Maritime Organization ( IMO ) and in other forums that many officers and seaman today lack of the ability to perform task effectively in the workplace. This evolution, demanding that the seafarer especially the officers to undergoes specific approved trainings conducted by approved institution , in approved environment. They also must demonstrate their ability to handle, operate , communicate, interpret, analyze, solve problems, and many more skill to the competence authority or administration before they are eligible to hold the position that they desire.
Thus it is the responsibility of a company to ensure that they officers that they employed possess the level of competence that mentioned above to fulfill the legal and organizational requirement of ensuring safe and efficient ship navigate our ocean. 1. 2 Objective Objective of this paper is to discuss the key issues that contribute to the maritime manpower recruitment and challenges in this century. This will also shows that training plays one of the important roles which help to overcome the manpower challenges. 2. 0 Why do we NEED to address this issue ?
Based on BIMCO/ISF Manpower 2005 updates, assessment on the global supply and demand of merchant seafarers shows that there will be an estimated shortfall of 10,000 officers ( 2 % of total offices demand ). It is also projected that by 2015, the shortfall on officers will increase to 27,000 ( 6 % of total officers demand ). 2. 1 Details of Shipping Industry Outlook – supply and demand for year 2005 and 2015. Seafarers Supply and Demand 2005 ( ‘000 ) Source of information: BIMCO/ISF Manpower 2005 Seafarers Supply and Demand 2015 ( ‘000 ) Source of information: BIMCO/ISF Manpower 2005 . 2 Appendix 2 – Common Maritime Human Resource concerns. • Shortage of qualified and experience officers. Lack of qualities. • Increase in shore based jobs with attractive remuneration. • Increase in world tonnage and decrease in demolition. • Manpower Demand ‘ Supply imbalance. • Wage competition between shipping companies to attract seafarers. • Desperate need of manpower to meet future demand. • Lack of proactive action by the industry to fill gaps. • Lack of long term vision and action based on increasing tonnage. • Criminalization of seafarers ‘ fines and imprisonment. Increase of pressure on the seafarers i. e. increase in inspections, regulations, shorter port stays and hectic schedules. 3. 0 Seafaring Training 3. 1 Ship Board Management Structure [pic] Source of Information : MISC Berhad 3. 2 Maritime Career Progression Model ( Deck Department ) [pic] Source of information: MISC BERHAD 3. 3 Maritime Career Progression Model ( Engine Department ) [pic] Source of information: MISC BERHAD The level of competency demanded for today shipping environment differs from what it uses to be and the training requirements also changes.
Today training has to be adoptive to this changes not only they are govern by legislation requirement but they must also fulfilled the need of the industry. The implementation of the International Convention on Standards Training , Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers Convention 1978 and its subsequence amendment in 1995 and 1997 or today better known as STCW’95 demand huge changes in the seafaring training. Besides the IMO, industry players such as OCIMF also sets stringent requirement on seafarers’ competency for the vessel chartered by its members.
Some of this requirement demand specific duration of exposure to specialize vessel before a person could assume higher responsibility. Thus for a seafarers, especially an officer to acquire the position of command and responsibility it would take nothing less than 6 to 7 years of sea services. To acquire the first certification as commissioned officer, it would take nothing less than 3 years and for a person to achieve the highest certificate of competency as Master Mariners or Class 1 Engineering Officers, it would take at least 7 years from the time he join the industry.
It is actually takes at least 7 years from the time he join the industry. It is actually takes lesser time to construct a vessel than to train an officer to man it. 4. 0 Key Issues What are the maritime manpower recruitment issues and challenges? 4. 1 Changes in the social economic structure. As what can be observed in the today maritime environment, as a country developing and developed, the numbers of young people going to sea get smaller. Good examples of these happening are what we see in United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Singapore.
Why this is happening? The reason is very simple, the wages differences between sea and ashore are very little variance. Furthermore why you want to be at sea far away from family and friends where you can have almost the same salary close at home. The challenge is that more and more developing countries are going or gearing toward developed status and this is particularly obvious in the Asian region. Another reason for younger generation not wanting to go to sea is he career opportunities ashore are nowadays more structure and career ladder are more obvious compared with the sea as even though those choose the live at sea would obtained higher promotion faster than the one at sea but they have the opportunities of steady climb whereas if the seafarers decided to come ashore later on they will have to start from the bottom. 4. 2 Training opportunities. With reference to the OECD report ( OECD, Jan 2003 ), those seafarer intending to come ashore to work finds that they need additional skill to adopt to the shore working environment and competency for the job requirement.
The training received by seafarers is most country is till limited to the need of marine environment and in most country training is no the seafarers own initiatives and expensive. Thus resulted they only acquired certain type of training that only related to job concerned but no other soft skill such as business savvy, accounting and financial, communication and interpersonal skill and many skill that were not incorporated during their earlier involvement in the maritime sector.
Most of those who came ashore have to learn on the job and risk losing out or some may just give-up and return to sea. This effect would later on discourage those who are intent to choose the sea as their career to shy away as there is no career alternative later in live. 4. 3 Criminalization of Seafarers. Shipping being international in nature is a wonderful tool to be sued as a means of transporting illegal goods as well as human trafficking across the continent.
This indirectly resulted in ships being targeted as threats in may countries and to prevent unforeseen circumstances from occurring, the crews are prevented to step ashore. Indirectly they being punished form the crime that they didn’t commit. This is further coupled with the treats of terrorism, for example the implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security ( ISPS ) code, which seen majority of the port around the world imposes stringent requirement for the crew going ashore.
Another criminalization of the seafarers are the imprisonment of especially management level officers on board the ship for offences dealing relating to shipboard operation matter such as spillage and accidental disposal of chemical substances. The officers of this ship would be put into prison first before they are formally being charged in the court of law relating to the offences that do not involved violent act or unsafe behaviour. 4. 4 Maritime Threats. Security threat at sea such as piracy, terrorism, armed robberies; fraud, vandalism and theft are some of the possible threats that may be faced by the seafarers.
The event of 911 changes the security landscape of the region and fundamentally changes the way human resources are managed in the maritime security environment . Even though the implementation of the ISPS code was seem as a measures taken to reduce these possible threats but nevertheless the likelihood for it to occur is still real especially for vessel transiting in areas of high risk , for examples Gulf Of Aden and this could even occur when the vessel is in port. Maritime Threats statistic from 2004 till 2006 : Date |Vessel | Incident | |140704 |M10 |2 stowaways passage Cape Town-Durban | |130804 |GGN |USCG enquire vessel’s SSAS (real) alert | |051004 |TGE |3 stowaways passage Bethioua – Lake Charles | |200105 |M11 |Theft/piracy in Sandakan, Sabah | |190305 |KYG |Attempted Piracy in Belawan, Indonesia | |290305 |M12 |Attempted Piracy in Vungtau, Vietnam | |310706 |PAG |Security Breach ‘ lost of ship’s spares in Jakarta | |220806 |BTE |Refusal to disembark in Durban, South Africa | |030906 |TGT |Unauthorized boarding/breach of security ‘ Bethioua, Algeria | Source of information : MISC BERHAD 4. 5 Commercial Pressure. The advancement of information and communication technology has reduced the gap between human located in the distance places and this also benefited the shipping industry.
It is easier to maintain communication between ship and its owner; this indirectly resulted in ore interference in term of ship management. The master of the ship is no longer seem to be in command of his ship, thus the impression of commercial requirement supersede the safety and security. This is very obvious where in certain port the practice of “Early Departure Procedures ( EDP ) ” so as to increase the turnaround time in port has resulted in shipping requiring to ensure proper securing before departure to be done while at sea and in certain situation the only suitable place when the vessel in port area or confined by the protection of break water.
There are practices in certain port today that failure to achieve arrival on time would result in penalties imposed on the vessel and additional charges of pilotage services. Being one most of regulated modes of transport in the commercial world, the ship’s officers today are being burden with paperwork and fulfilling the requirement of various enforcement authorities whenever they call into port. This includes trying to balance between the requirements of ensuring the vessel equipment are maintain at the highest order and ensuring the vetting and inspection are promptly attended to. 4. 6 Cultural Differences and Communication. Due to present shortage of manpower, traditional maritime nation could no longer afford single nationality onboard a ship.
Today we find a vessel would have multinational officers and ratings on board, as for any multicultural environment, there would be tendency of language used and interpretation of those languages. This could result in misunderstanding which is normally the rot cause of conflict. Even though some shipping companies trying to resolve the issue of multinational crew through the introduction of the own company culture or citizen but it would take some time for people to change and adopt, that unfortunately may not be viable especially in the environment where you don’t normally stay more than a year on the same ship. Major supplier of seafarers:- [pic] Source of Information: BIMCO ISF 2005 Manpower Update 4. Long Shipboard Services. In the effort to attract ships’ officers and ratings stay loyal to the company, the shipping company introduces shorter sea service duration so that they could Have more frequent leave. But with the present shortage of maritime manpower, the policy could not be implemented thus resulted in situation of the officers especially the senior officers staying longer that the duration of service require thus reverse occurred. 4. 8 Competition with Other Maritime Sector. Shipping not the only sector that need people with maritime knowledge, the other sector which need this group of people for example is the oil and gas industry.
As the reverse near to the coast is depleting, the exploration and production activities moved further offshore and the deepwater oil and gas production activities are today a common features in the oil and gas industry. With the increase in world market demand for the hydrocarbon and the booming of the oil price, this industry could afford to offer higher salary for people with such a high skill and knowledge. Thus indirectly posses a new challenge to the shipping sector of the manpower drainage and further reduced the already depleting manpower availability. 9. Comparison tables Maritime sector Terms and Conditions against Offshore Oil and Gas Industry. |NO. SUBJECT |MARITIME CURRENT |OFFSHORE OIL & GAS | | | |TERMS & CONDITIONS |INDUSTRY | |1. |Type of Employment |Combination of |Continuous employment | | | |” permanent ” and contractual | | |2. |Applicability |Applies to local nationality & expatriates|Apply to all nationalities | | | |on different terms. | |4. |Notice of termination |Officers and ratings on 03 months notice |Notice period for termination ranges between | | | |or 03 months salary in lieu. |1 ‘ 3 months; the trend is towards a shorter | | | | |notice period | |5. |Annual Increment |2 % – 10 % of basic salary |Average range 8 % to 15 % | |6. |Annual Bonus |Subject to company discretion |Average 01-03 months bonus | |7. Medical Benefits |Applicable for employee only |Applicable for employee only. | |8. |Contribution to Employee |Company 12 % |There is an increasing trend of companies | | |Provident Fund |Employee 11 % |having a pension plan. | |9. |Salary & Allowances |Current scales 10-15 % higher than |35-50 % higher than maritime sector. | | | |industry average | | 5. 0 Recommendation There is no shortcut in ensuring qualified and competence officers placed onboard ships as safety is the main priority.
What can be done by the companies today is try to retain the existing serving seafarers in the profession by offering training as well as better welfare and service package for the seafarers and their family, and at the same time effort should be step-up to train seafarers to cope with the present shortage. Other effort to reduce the load of the master and other management levels officers is the creation of additional position in the form of administrative support so that the workload for paperwork could be monitor by an administrative officer where the person is holding this position need no special maritime skill and duration of training is short.
The workload of engineer officers could also be reduced by allowing graduates with engineering knowledge such as mechanical engineers to be utilized onboard as support staff . Of course they should be given certain maritime safety and operational knowledge before they are allowed to serve onboard ship. One thing there should not be removed is the training. No matter how busy the officers are , they should not isolate their junior officers in management of ships. As this would be the future management officers for the ships and they must be equipped now rather than when they are holding the senior position as it may be too late. Shipping companies do also need to invest in human resource training and development as they need to create their own manning pool to reduce the shortage. 6. Conclusion Human resources are the most important elements to ensure succession of the company. The management should be given serious particulars intention to retain the best employee for organization benefits. Almost 90 % of the world trade is carried by ship. If the seaborne trade increase by 7 % annually than it is preferably the recruitment and training of seafarers must follow the same volume. But taking into consideration of present high attrition rate and future retirement, 7 % alone would not be enough to fulfill this shortage. Thus it would seem that higher numbers needed to meet the future demand and actions should be now rather than latter.
The company have to look into training and development of their own pool of seafarers as the practice of pinching staff from one another may not able to resolve the issue of shortage of manpower. 7. 0 References :- 7. 1BIMCO/ISF, BIMCO/ISF 2005 Manpower Update , ISF Publication Summary Report, UK, April 2005. 2. Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics, ISL Market Analyses 2005, Major Shipping Countries, ISL: , July 2005. 7. 3Mathis R. & Jackson J. 2004, Human Resource Management ,10th edition, Singapore 7. 4 http://miscbhd. com ( MISC Berhad ) 7. 5 Osnin N. P; Maritime Education & Training Manpower Requirements in The Shipping Industry; Maritime Institute of Malaysia, December 1998. 7. 6 Progoulaki.
M, Dealing with the culture of The Maritime Manpower in Socially Responsible Manner, University of Aegean, Chios, Greece, September 2006. 7. 7 UNTCAD Secretariat, Review of Maritime Transport , 2006; United Nation; New York; 2006. ———————– R A T I N G S 3RD ENGINEER SECOND ENGINEER CHIEF OFFICER C A T E G OR Y GP CATERING COOK GREASER OILER ABLE SEAMAN BOSUN CATERING DEPT. -27 -10 [pic] ENGINE DEPT. DECK CADET [pic] [pic] ENGINE CADET 4TH ENGINEER CHIEF ENGINEER 3RD OFFICER SECOND OFFICER DECK DEPT. O F F I C E R S GP ENGINE GP DECK CAPTAIN R A T I N G S ELECTRICAL ENGINEER CATERING OFFICER SHIP BOARD MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE