India manning forum bids to solve officer shortage crisis

In a crisis reflecting shipping's boom and bust cycle, sustained growth in the world economy has seen demand for officers outstrip supply as the industry pays the price for cutbacks in cadet training schemes during previous lean years.

More recently the shortage has been compounded by competitive rates of pay for shore-based jobs in developing nations – and greater opportunities for seafarers to switch companies and careers or retire early.

Against this background, the 3rd Manning & Training in India conference takes place in Mumbai on March 17-18 with international insight on how to fill the quantity gap without compromising quality and safety.

Speakers include senior representatives from regulatory and training authorities as well as ship owners, operators and managers such as Anglo Eastern, Barber, Eurasia, Great Eastern, Mitsui, V.Ships and Wilhelmsen.

Conference chairman Capt. Martin Burley, group training director at V.Ships, points out:We now have more than 1000 cadets going through our training programmes in India, the Philippines, former Soviet Union countries and eastern Europe.  Applications in India overwhelm places by 3 to 1 but we could still do with more training berths being made available.

The underlying problem is that the industry didn’t think ahead about being a cyclical business, so there was some over reaction to the low of the 1980s in reducing places.

Now new factors have come into play.  Senior officers have a shorter life at sea than previously.  It's not uncommon for Indian masters and chief engineers in their thirties to have a couple of trips under their belt and then have ambitions to do something different.

Those who remain at sea are earning more and can retire relatively young – and in the meantime, the supply and demand factor has created a situation where they can jump from company to company in response to the call of the almighty dollar.

Organised by Lloyd's List Events, the two-day conference at InterContinental's Grand Hotel will be followed on March 19 by a workshop on Leadership, Trust & Communication, which focuses on the human element in building a safety culture.  The workshop leader is Prof. Mike Barnett, associate director of the UK's Warsash Maritime Academy.

Delegate fees are £999 for the conference and £499 for the workshop, with reduced rates of £450 and £199 respectively for Indian residents.

Source:Transportweekly