Faststream conducted a survey last summer, in which it made an attempt to find out what seafarers think about their career and the choices they made and it publishes a report describing the results of the survey.
For a seafarer the idea of coming ashore, taking a step sideways and learning a completely new set of skills on the job, can seem extremely difficult as it is unknown.
Thus, there aren’t many experienced officers looking to make a move ashore. However, 92% of shoreside workers think it’s at least quite important to have ex-seafarers in the office, whilst 35% say it’s vital, the report said, albeit just over half of seafarers, whether western or Asian, think that it’s difficult or very difficult to get a job ashore.
Furthermore, the report showed that engineering officers think it is easier to get a job ashore than deck officers do (53% vs 39%), but it mentions that both engineering and deck officers are extremely employable.
Namely, after asking seafarers what the starting salary for an officer with 10 to 15 years of seafaring experience coming ashore in a variety of professions, would be, the report found out that seafarers underestimate what the salaries can be.
Moreover, seafarers were asked where they think that the best career opportunities lie. 37% answered Singapore alone and 26% Europe.
Faststream reports that indeed Singapore would hold the largest pool of industry talent over the next 5 years, but it notes that London remains the world’s top maritime centre.
Finally, Faststream’s report mentioned that there is a misconception about salary levels in Asia. The perception of European and USA based workers about pay in Asia was furthest away from the reality.
47% of European and 64% of USA based workers seemed to think that their Asian counterparts get paid less than them, whilst Asian workers thought they got paid more than their counterparts in Europe and 69% thought the same against USA shore-based employees.
For more details about the report, click below
