Demand for seafarers on the rise

Maritime research and advisory firm Drewry is forecasting a huge officer shortfall in the coming years, thanks in part to Covid-19.

The impact of the global pandemic, the diminishing attractiveness of a career at sea, rising man-berth ratios and fleet growth will lead to the highest shortfall of officers in over a decade by 2026, the company said in its Manning Annual Review and Forecast.

“With the ongoing negative effects of life at sea brought about by the Covide-19 pandemic, some seafarers may bring retirement plans forward, while others may look for work ashore,” Drewry head of manning research Rhett Harris said.

“It has been the case for a number of years that quality officers have been difficult to recruit and retain. This situation is expected to get worse as the growth in supply fails to keep pace with an expanding world fleet.”

Drewry said the current officer shortfall is “broadly manageable” and not a noticeable problem when hiring what is estimated to equate to roughly 3% of the global pool.

But that deficit is expected to grow to more than 5%, the highest level since 2013.

It comes as the growth in the shipping labour pool has slowed from an average annual rate of 2.7% from 2011 to the end of 2016 to 0.5% annually over the last five years.

Ratings supply, Drewry said, was more elastic given the lower entry requirements and shorter training periods.

Many in the industry have been warning that Covid-19 could take its toll on the labour supply.

In February, Maritime Authority Jamaica director general Rear Admiral Peter Brady warned seafarers were not getting the recognition they deserved for keeping the global economy running during Covid-19 lockdowns.

The pandemic forced as many as 400,000 seafarers to work beyond their contractual limits, some for a year or longer, as countries refused to allow crew changes, worried it could spread the virus in their borders.

That number had begun to dip, before surging again amid increasing infection rates that pushed some countries to reimpose Covid-19 measures.

In March, Ardmore Shipping chief operating officer Mark Cameron said he was seeing less and less willingness from seafarers to go back out to sea.

On 21 May, the International Transport Workers’ Federation called for vaccine patent waivers as a means of ending the crew change crisis.(Copyright)