“TWO cadets per ship is the minimum intake required to sustain the supply of human resources in the maritime industry and perhaps, the only way to prevent future shortages is to make two cadets, a mandatory requirement in the manning scales for ships!” That at least is the view of Anglo-Eastern Ship Management's Quality Assurance & Training director Pradeep Chawla.
At a shipping conference in Singapore Capt Chawla note that, for the past three years, various individuals and organizations like BIMCO/ISF have been predicting a serious shortage of officers. Shortage of over 10,000 seafarers were predicted in 2005 BIMCO/ISF manpower study. He said: “The warnings fell on deaf ears in most cases. Calls to recruit more cadets and spend on training were ignored by the industry in general. Well, the predictions have come true and today we are in the middle of a very severe shortage of officers. The stock market may go up or down in the next twelve months, but the chances for finding good quality officers is certainly going down in the next twelve months!”
He added that the situation is the same in all crewing centres of the world. “Every officer can find a job easily. Retired officers are being wooed to come back to sea with the lure of high wages and short contracts. Younger officers are being poached by companies willing to pay higher wages, or willing to offer quicker promotions. Owners/managers with small fleets hardly have the choice of ‘selecting’ good quality officers. They have to take whoever is available, and on the conditions demanded by the seafarer.”
He said: “The answer from the manning offices, Mumbai, Manila, Shanghai, Odessa, Gdansk, Riga, Constanza or Vladivostok is the same – 'Cannot find officers'.”
Capt Chawla was speaking in particular about the future of India as a crew supplying nation. He was optimistic about the prospects for the country's seafarers and he noted that many young Indians still wanted to go to sea. He said: “As an example of the high demand for seafaring career in India, in August 2007, we received over 2,000 applications for 300 trainee vacancies that we advertised for!”
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