Increasing the attractiveness of maritime careers in Europe
The European maritime community faces a major challenge in training sufficient numbers of young people to adequately supply the current and future needs of European Union Member States commercial trading fleets.
There is also a huge, and growing,demand for European trained and qualified seafarers, both officers and ratings, to work in the numerous and varied industrial sectors that to some extent rely on a steady stream of seafarers qualified in accordance with the IMO Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention (STCW).
A research project – the Career Mapping Update2013 (CM2) – initiated by the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) and the EuropeanTransport Workers’ Federation (ETF), and funded by the European Commission, is aimed at addressing these challenges full-on.
Key Findings
Most trainee seafarers (both EU nationals andnon-EU nationals) apply for maritime training for entirely, and rather remarkably, positive reasons, and this also applies to the reasons active and ex-seafarers applied for maritime training at the outset of their careers
The advantages of a future career ashore inthe maritime cluster do not feature highly on the list of reasons for applying for maritime training for Europeanseafarers (or for non-Europeans).
While a significant proportion of trainee seafarers state they expect to remain at sea until retirement (as would be expected), the majority expect to leave the sea before this, with most specifying 10-15years as their sea time expectation, and this corresponds to seatime expectations of active seafarers and actual sea time performed by ex-seafarers before they transferred ashore.
Of the reasons given for intending to transfer ashore, active seafarers stressed poor social life, the time and cost of obtaining higher maritime qualifications, better long term career prospects ashore and needing a new challenge. Non-Europeans placed more emphasis on low pay and poor conditions at sea and a change in domestic circumstances
For ex-seafarers, it was stressed that the reasons which were the most important when they transferred ashore were that they needed a new challenge, their domestic circumstances changed, there were better long term career prospects ashore, and it was part of their anticipated career planning.
With regard to on-board career mobility and progression, active seafarers did not regard promotion at sea as being too slow or a lack of job flexibility in current shipboard ranks/ratings (as specified by STCW requirements) as significant problems. Nor do there appear to be any serious discussions at national or international level of possible alternative shipboard manning/ qualification arrangements that would affect seafarers current on-board career mobility or progression aspirations.
However, there are some initiatives in certain EU Member States to integrate ratings into career paths at sea that may lead to upward career progression into officer ranks within a coherent training and qualification pathway.
When eventually transferring ashore, the large majority of trainees and active seafarers wish to remain in employment where their maritime qualifications and know-how are useful, and these views are echoed by ex-seafarers about their decision to transfer to shore employment.
Most active seafarers have clear ideas about the particular type of work they wish to do if they eventually transfer to shore employment rather than being content in any maritime related job.
Not surprisingly, the most popular shore jobs specified by seafarers were those positions most familiar to them from their sea experience, such as superintendents and operations managers, rather than other jobs in the maritime clusters they were less familiar with.
The most widely reported concerns European seafarers have about their future careers were that there would be few alternative jobs available at sea or ashore, their standard of living would decline,and they would have difficulty finding information about alternative jobs.
In terms of what assistance would be of most help to seafarers in their future careers, active seafarers(Europeans and non-Europeans) considered that more companies offering jobs at sea for seafarers with their qualifications, a job guarantee with their current employer, more funding for study/training for shorejobs, and more information about shore job availabilitywere the priorities.
For ex-seafarers the main problems actually experienced (as against the problems they thought they might experience) were that their maritime experienceand qualifications were not valued, there were too few jobs available in the maritime sector forthose of their age and qualifications, they needed to move home to find work, and their living standards declined. Difficulty in finding information about shore jobs was another problem frequently mentioned.
While few complaints were made about the need to obtain further qualifications in order to apply for many shore positions in the maritime clusters, the time and cost of such training was a major concern and the costs can be formidable. Apart from re-training costs, many, if not most, seafarers need to relocate in order to obtain work in the maritime clusters, with all of the domestic problems and costs this involves. In addition, although ex-seafarers working ashore are relatively well paid by shore standards, they usually receive less net pay than their seagoing wages and their employment conditions may not prove so attractive.
The main forms of help recommended by ex-seafarers to make ship/shore transition easier for seafarers were more shore recognition of maritime qualifications, more information about shore job availability,and more training courses available covering shore job requirements. More distance learning and more funding for training also ranked highly.
Despite the problems anticipated by ex-seafarersin finding shore-based employment, the large majority actually experienced few or no difficulties in finding appropriate jobs.
The range of training assistance available to seafarers to help with career progression is quite extensive, with many training courses offered by MET institutions covering STCW and related courses, some industry organisations providing courses (usually inEnglish) relevant to work in the maritime clusters, and many commercial training course providers offering a whole range of deep-sea specific, maritime cluster specific and general educational courses (again usually in English). But such training can be expensive for the seafarers unless sponsored.
Many distance learning courses (also knownas blended or guided learning and usually in English) are available for seafarers wishing to progress their careers at sea or in shore positions. While many of the leading commercial companies providing such courses aim for high tech, web-based systems provided to crews through company fleet-wide agreements, there are others catering more for university level or shore maritime industry-standard training courses, including assessment and accredited examinations which are targeted at individual seafarers and which are designed for use on ships without easily available broadband access.
Adequate and cost-effective crew access to sufficient broadband width at sea to enable complex training material to be downloaded by most seafarers(let alone use of social media to improve contact withfriends and family at home to improve shipboard sociallife and aid retention) remains at best some 5-10 yearsaway. While a few ships are reasonably well connected, mainly cruise ships and those in the offshore sector,and improvements in maritime satellite coverage and ininnovative crew access are accelerating, free access is often restricted and user costs can be formidable. So while seafarers may well hope for more distance learning facilities to help career mobility, much on-board training for the individual will need to continue to focus, in the short term, on learning using more readily available, and cost-effective, on-board training techniques unless or until more radical solutions are found.
Seafarers work skills, technical knowledge, problem-solving ability and work ethic make them highly desirable, and in some cases essential, in shore jobs within the maritime cluster. But, many do not make the transition from sea to shore easily, particularly those who have held senior rank for some years. Seafarers moving into a shore environment need to adapt to a different working environment with different work norms, skill sets and management structures, they may also face dramatic changes in their employment conditions as well as domestic issues concerned with moving home. Some companies appear to provide mentoring and support to assist seafarers manage the transition, indeed a few now regard the sea/shore transition as an inevitable and desirable process allowing them to attract and retain the best candidates in management positions ashore .But many employers, if not most, need to make asubstantial investment in this area.
For more details on maritime careers, please read ECSA / ETF report
