The Hindu Business Line : ‘Come aboard’ call to seafarers

“Ships do not move cargoes; people do.” Seafarers are the backbone of shipping, and India has been one of the highest suppliers of seafarers to the industry. But shortage of seafarers is posing a big challenge to the industry. Indian shipping companies are unable to attract people and losing them to sectors such as IT, that has verticals such as logistics and supply chain management.

Despite a surplus of ratings, there is an estimated shortage of 10,000 officers or about 2 per cent of the total workforce. With a predicted shortage of around 27,000 officers by 2015, the problem could escalate to a point where shipping companies will have to face operational difficulties. The shortage comes at a time when the Indian shipping business is on a high and more Indian ships are to join the fleet. Nearly four million gross tonnage will be added to the Indian fleet this year, said an industry official.

Due to the high quality of training imparted to maritime personnel, India has always been regarded as a major source of skilled manpower for world shipping. India has over 150 training institutes with four in the public sector and around 150 in the private sector, capable of producing over 11,000 seafarers annually, says a Confederation of Indian Industry report.

Two main challenges

Mr S. Hajara, Chairman and Managing Director, Shipping Corporation of India, speaking at the World Shipping Forum 2008, an international seminar on shipping, in Chennai last week said the two main challenges the Indian shipping industry is facing are of ‘human resources and poor image.’

Working on board ships is becoming less attractive for students coming out of schools and colleges. In the past, seafarers were paid better than their peers on shore, and they had the opportunity to travel across the world. However, both these have changed. The salary gap between seafarers and those working on shore is shrinking. Also, with ports and terminals located far away from the city, and ships not staying at the port for a longer period, seafarers do not have an opportunity to explore various countries, he said.

“Today, shipping is not considered a glamorous industry. We need to do a lot of public relations (PR) to attract people to work on ships. We need to create innovative ideas, and also move to suburban and rural areas to seek talent,” he said.

According to Mr D.T. Joseph, former secretary and advisor, Ministry of Shipping, it is a big human resource-related challenge for companies to take care of their seafarers on board the ships. For instance, there was one suicide in 2005; two in 2006 and three in 2007. The total number of deaths on ships in 2007 was 129 compared with 96 in 2006 and 77 in 2005. The reasons included natural causes, accidents and cases of vessel sinking, he said.

The image of the shipping industry needs to be improved to attract talent, he said.

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