In Fulfilling the need for Future Mariners
Apprenticeships are the Solution
Marine Manning: A Vocational Approach Through Marine Apprentices
By Gregg Trunnell
Just the other day, an executive at a well-regarded and firmly established tugboat company in the Pacific Northwest remarked to me that the biggest challenge facing their ongoing efforts to grow and prosper was the critical shortage of competent, well-trained officers. Predictably, and in this ongoing climate of good times in the marine industry in general, their solution to this issue was to recruit from and depend on the professional training given by their competitors. This is a sad and more importantly, an alarming metric that rings true for the vast majority of offshore, brownwater and tug and barge operators in the domestic, American marine trades. Absent a substantial internal budget that will provide the ability to grow a professional and structured program to recruit, train, and advance--and just as importantly, retain--mariners into the wheelhouse, there are only limited options available to most small to mid-size operators. These options include: � Borrowing from your competitors; � Hire a recent graduate from a traditional Maritime Academy; or � Promote through the traditional Hawsepipe. Each has inherent drawbacks and merits. Typically, the management style and background of the operator's executive team will dictate how and why recruiting is done in a particular fashion. And while there is little to be gained by dismissing any or all of these choices out-of-hand, it is also worth mentioning that this segment of the maritime industry is rapidly evolving, and because of this, new ideas for the Maritime Industry in the area of Recruitment, Placement, Advancement and Retention of mariners are showing significant promise. It is important to first examine the trends that are already impacting the ability of marine operators in every sector of the maritime industry to hire, promote and
retain commercial mariners--especially officers. An aging workforce and the exploding global demand for mariners have now combined to create the perfect storm which, unchecked, will soon rob industry of its core of officers. Along with this will come the wholesale loss of talent and experience as desperate boat owners fill the gap with lessthan-qualified and inexperienced help. Indeed, according to a study conducted on the U.S. West Coast by the Pacific Coast Maritime Consortium, the average age of U.S. licensed merchant mariners is now 43 years and that statistic is only expected to worsen as this decade moves quickly to a close. According to the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), the maritime industry will experience a worldwide shortage of 27,000 ships' officers by the year 2015. The sobering statistic has been exacerbated by the impending retirement of millions of baby boomers and the reality that fewer young people are choosing to enter the industry. Beyond this, the U.S. maritime industry is expected to be especially hard hit. It is more than ironic that the American mariner, long thought to be overpaid and too expensive for flag of convenience operators, is now being actively sought for a wide range of marine platforms. A markedly weaker U.S. dollar has opened the door for a myriad of foreign tonnage operators, all of whom are struggling with same problems facing the Jones Act trades, to hire suddenly affordable - and yes - topnotch talent. Notwithstanding, the more than competitive wages being offered by flag of convenience operators, there are also significant tax advantages for mariners spending most of their time outside the United States. The recent effort by the U.S. Maritime Administration to induce such venerable operators as SeaRiver, APL and Maritrans to provide berths for American maritime academy cadets is telling. These developments come in the immediate wake
30 MN
February 2008