ΠΕΡΙΣΣΟΤΕΡΟΙ ΝΕΟΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΘΑΛΑΣΣΑ - ΑΛΛΑ ΠΩΣ?

Οι δικοί μας ιθύνοντες, κάθε τόσο βγάζουν φιρμάνια, ότι θα λείψουν οι Έλληνες ναυτικοί από την Ελληνική ναυτιλία. 

Η αλήθεια είναι ότι, τα κατώτερα πληρώματα μας τελείωσαν, γιατί?

Διότι δεν υπάρχουν εταιρείες που να προσλαμβάνουν κατώτερα πληρώματα, λόγω κόστους λένε...

Εγώ θα πω , και για πολλά άλλα που δεν είναι της παρούσης στιγμής .

Άρα , μας έμειναν οι αξιωματικοί. Όλοι θα ξέρετε για το μπάχαλο που επικρατεί, από την πρόσκληση στην εκπαίδευση και στο βάπτισμα.. διαβάστε όμως παρακάτω τι βλέπουν και οι άλλοι.

Strait Talk  

Published June 9, 2010

Young people and the sea

The shipping industry needs to attract and retain newcomers

By DAVID HUGHES

A NEW Japanese study on the future global supply and demand of seafarers predicts that by 2020 the shipping industry will need to recruit an additional 32,153 officers and 46,881 ratings above 2010 figures to meet growing needs.
The figures are not that surprising, although the downturn may have taken attention away from the problem.
Among other conclusions and recommendations, the study says that the industry needs to tackle problems of attraction and retention of newcomers.
Undertaken by The Nippon Foundation and the Japan International Transport Institute (JITI), the research project has the not-so-snappy title 'Study on the future global supply and demand for seafarers and possible measures to facilitate stakeholders to secure a quantity of quality seafarers'.
Presenting the research findings at a seminar at the International Maritime Organisation's headquarters in London, JITI president Makoto Washizu asked: 'How are we going to secure the necessary number of young people for the future security of the maritime industry?'
I'm not so sure that finding the numbers required will be as difficult as some imagine. The reason I say this is because the companies that recruit officers from India are always overwhelmed by applications from very well-educated young people wanting to join cadet training programmes. And the same is true for several other countries.
I would have say, for instance, that it is true for the Philippines, so it is interesting that the International Maritime Employers' Committee (IMEC) has decided it needs to encourage more Filipino youngsters to go to sea as ratings.
IMEC secretary-general Giles Heimann says that the industry needs to act quickly to attract entrants by making itself more attractive to youngsters. So this year, IMEC is spending US$100,000 to produce a 'comic book' that will be distributed to youngsters aged 12 and up through their schools to try to instil an interest in seafaring as a career at a young age.
The IMEC initiative is commendable and - even if there is no real shortage of potential Filipino ratings - is taking the right approach by targeting young people while they are still at school.
Personally, I see no likelihood that there will be insufficient numbers of officers and ratings for the global fleet, though whether they will be sufficiently skilled is another matter.
There is, however, likely to be a problem for major maritime countries that want significant numbers of their own nationals to go to sea and provide a pool of shipping experience and expertise. This applies, for example, to the UK and Singapore.
In Singapore, of course, there are various initiatives to educate students about the maritime sector, including the Singapore Maritime Academy's Maritime Experiential Learning Cruise programme aboard the Star Cruises ship Superstar Virgo.
Speaking at the London seminar, Peter Cremers, CEO of Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern Ship Management Services, said: 'To make our industry more attractive, the living conditions on board must be improved, to be in line with the expectations of the youngsters. The minimum requirements must be upgraded so accommodation on board feels like a home and not a posting to a remote location.'
This is a good point, especially when trying to keep recruits who were persuaded that the sea is a good career compared with others on offer.
Mr Cremers said young seafarers - prospective recruits - now use online social networks to discuss the working conditions provided by various companies, and even compare which routes and ships they prefer within a company. 'The shipping industry should seize the opportunity created by such new technologies to foster employee loyalty early on,' he suggested.
I don't disagree with these initiatives aimed at attracting potential recruits who view going to sea as just one possible option to be weighed up. Indeed, I think they are definitely necessary. Nevertheless, I think the IMEC approach of trying to instil an interest in the sea at a much earlier age is the best one. Particularly when we are trying to build up a future pool of maritime expertise, it would seem to me to be logical to focus on recruiting young people who have a genuine interest in the sea.
So the answer to Mr Washizu's question is that we need to foster schemes that bring children into contact with boats and ships and make sure they know about our maritime heritage.
IMEC-style comics are fine, but there also needs to be plenty of hands-on opportunities afloat, on dinghies, RIBS and small training vessels. That's how we can nurture a new generation of ship managers, surveyors, pilots etc - all essential to a developing a true maritime hub.