HR TRENDS CAREER TRACK
Can India keep Pace as a predominant Seafaring Nation?
The Indian shipping administration is setting in motion a set of reforms to bring about a qualitative difference in the development of seafarer pool to keep up with future global demand. Studies reveal that manpower shortages can be mitigated by improving the quality of education, making available enough training berths on vessels, and removing a few bottlenecks in the examination system. The shipping administration must lead the industry. SNM Events Team reports.
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Recent trends reveal that India has a long way to go from its current share of about 7 percent to 9 percent of its share of seafarers by the year 2015. In the context of predicted rises in the volumes of trade, the global demand of seafarers is expected to witness a sharp rise. A study by consultants Mckinsey & Co. pointed to India gearing itself up and tripling its seafarer training capacity in order to keep up with the pace required. India has made tremendous improvement in its share of global seafaring stakes in the past decade. The quantum of seafarers from India doubled during the years 2000 to 2008. According to Dr. S.B. Agnihotri, Director General of Shipping, it must be considered an achievement that India today stands as the fifth largest seafarer supplying nation. He is however quick to add that urgent reforms are needed in the areas of training, administration, and career support to seafarers. Industry leaders have appreciated the quality of Indian seafarers and in the last two decades more and more ship managing companies were established to attract talent from here. The growth of the Indian industry has corresponded with the setting up of maritime academies in the later 1990’s set up under the directorate general of shipping.
A slow start However, we have witnessed a crewing slowdown in the last couple of years. The economic slowdown directly affected the industry’s demand for officers and crew. Fewer ships came forward to offer training berths or to employ newly
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Dr. Satish B. Agnihotri, Director General of Shipping, GoI
trained cadets. Apart from this, trends also indicate a decline in the numbers of candidates that are opting to take seafaring career from the traditional recruiting grounds such as the metro cities or the coastal towns. On the other hand we are witnessing a growing number of recruits from smaller towns and far flung regions of India to this profession. This trend is perceived as a good thing by many.
Are the institutes churning out the right numbers? DG Shipping expresses his dismay that the number of candidates who achieve their competencies eventually and become fully fledged officers is far lower than the numbers that enroll across the many institutes across the country year after year. He says that in order to meet the growing global demand, we will not only require larger numbers of enrolments for the courses but we must also provide adequate
number of training berths after the pre-sea course which will enable candidates to fulfill their training requirements. He states that efforts are on from the government’s side to remove training and administration bottlenecks at various levels.
Quality of Indian Seafarers Indian seafarers have been much in demand for their ability, skills and attitude. In particular they are found to be good at English communication and have found to adapt well to different challenging situations. Moreover, India holds the advantage of a long coastline and a large manpower pool, a relatively good education system and growing onshore sectors. The industry at present is united in its concern that complacency is creeping in at various levels; that we are not producing enough manpower, and the quality is also not what we used to churn out. And it is not helping when
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2011
12/13/2011 2:42:26 AM