Majority of Seafarers ‘Content’ With Life at Sea, Survey Shows

The majority of seafarers are content material with life at sea, based on preliminary findings of a brand new survey performed by the delivery affiliation BIMCO along with the International Chamber of Shipping.

The survey, a part of the the BIMCO/ICS Manpower Report 2015, appears to straight have interaction seafarers with the intention to perceive their views on life at sea and outlook for the business’s manpower within the years forward.

The report, which has been printed each 5 years since 1990, has historically been primarily based on two principal quantitative knowledge sources together with a questionnaire accomplished by delivery corporations and a questionnaire accomplished by nationwide maritime administrations. But this 12 months it additionally solicits the opinions from a wider variety of maritime professionals with information of the ‘sharp end’ of the manpower provide state of affairs, together with seafarers, lecturers at maritime schooling and coaching (MET) establishments, manning brokers, maritime unions, and port welfare staff.

The survey of seafarers is the primary of the focused surveys for this 12 months’s report and has already concerned greater than 500 seafarers respondents representing over 40 nationalities. Some of the opposite preliminary findings embody:

‘Happy ships’, well timed wage funds and profession promotion alternatives have been the most well-liked responses indicated when seafarers have been requested in regards to the vital components that influenced their choices to stick with their present employers;
66% of the seafarers that responded estimated that it might take them lower than three months to safe one other job within the business in the event that they selected to go away their present firm; and
Basic pay and web entry have been the most well-liked responses offered as enhancements in situations at sea when requested about modifications inside the previous two years.

BIMCO and ICS not that one of many traits that resonated within the responses was the significance and worth of the coaching and abilities that include being a maritime skilled: “Life at sea is exciting, challenging and very educational. The skills that anyone can receive from this job cannot be compared to anything else ashore.”

The survey additionally factors in direction of the impression that elevated regulation of the business has had on the seafaring occupation. One seafarer responded: “This is a great career, but an increasingly technical and administrative one so it is no longer as much an adventure as simply a job, albeit one with the possibility of adventure!”

The opinions that accompany the responses will complement and increase the evaluation within the last Manpower Report. In reviewing a number of the preliminary outcomes, Mr Aron Sørensen, Chief Marine Technical Officer at BIMCO, stated: “This survey has provided us with insight into the views of seafarers today. Understanding the key issues for seafarers is especially valuable when attracting and recruiting talented young people to the shipping industry.”

With preparations of the Manpower Report 2015 persevering with, Natalie Shaw, Director of Employment Affairs at ICS, stated: “We have just launched a second of the new series of surveys, targeting lecturers at maritime education and training institutions. We look forward to gathering information and views from those at the forefront of maritime training which will be used to enrich the 2015 Manpower Report.”

The survey for lecturers at maritime schooling and coaching (MET) establishments may be discovered on-line at www.maritimemanpower.com/questionnaire-overview/met-questionnaire-2/.