The high cost of paying seafarers - Are there alternatiνes.

...οσο θυμάμαι, πάντα υπήρχε αυτός ο παράγοντας, και πάντα οι ναυτιλιακές ανάγκαζαν τις τράπεζες να ελαττώσουν τα έξοδα, γιατί πιθανότατα θα άλλαζαν τράπεζα με καλλίτερους όρους.

Τώρα το ανακάλυψαν οι ξένοι? Σίγουρα τώρα μαθεύτηκε στην ευρύτερη ναυτιλιακή κοινότητα , λόγω διαδικτύου. Λύσεις προσφέρονται, και δεν είναι πάντα η οικονομία έναντι του κέρδους. Μιλάω για τους Έλληνες ναυτικούς οι οποίοι παρά την χρυσή εποχή, αφέοησαν στο παρασκήνιο και κανένας δεν τολμάει να πει κουβέντα, παρά μόνο στις εορτές ...

Το παρακάτω άρθρο , είναι γραμμένο στο ship management  nr 64,  και σχεδόν πάντα αναφερόμαστε στο κόψιμο των εξόδων, αλλά  ποτέ στην ποιότητα ζωής στο πλοίο και την ικανότητα των ναυτικών. Πάντα, έβαζαν 5 ικανούς και τους υπόλοιπους μέτριους έως τίποτα, για να ισοφαρίζουν κάπως το μπαλάντζο.... αλλά αυτό είναι  το επόμενο θέμα... compitency should start at home,  και αυτό γραμμένο στο ίδιο τεύχος του ship manager.

 Did you know that oνer $6 billion in hard cunency is deliνered to the g1obal merchant f1eet οn an annua1 basis~

Stuart Ostrow, President οf Ship Money, a global maritime financial serνices company, shared these "startling" figures during a presentation at the recent Crew Connect Conference ίη Manila.

Mr Ostrow further noted that shipping conpanies are deploying "idle capital" by deliνering large amounts οf cash regularly to their νessels.

For example looking at a f1eet of 50 νessels with 20 crew members per νessel, οn the basis that $500 per month on boaId is nsed ίη cash adνance for crew and $15,000 for ship οperations, some $15 million ίn cash would be deliνered to the f1eet. Ια this example, the company could be incurring $450,000 ίη direct costs ust to send cash to their νessels - assnming the aνerage cost of 3% for cash-to Master.

Μr Ostrow went οn to pose this rhetorical question to the audience:

"What if there was a solution to cut that cash ίη ha1f  by using alternatiνe payment methods? 

Ίhat's $225,000 ίn direct cost saνings by simply delaying the deliνery οf cash from eνery two months to eνery three months, and cutting the amount οf cash for each deliνery by 25. And this does factor ίn the return οf the idle capital back to the ba1ance sheet. Ίf we look at the recent B1MCO study of how many ships exist ίη the merchant market, we're looking at approximately 69,000 νessels. Ιf we go back to the example οf 50 νessels, it's about $25,000 ίn cash per ship which equates to approximately $1.7 billion cash onboard the global merchant f1eet at any one point ίn time. In that cash is replenished four times a year, that's $6.8bn dollars Ιτι cash that is sent to the f1eet οn an annual basis. It's a truly startling number."

And that only represents one component οf the cost to pay seafarers.

Mr Ostrow also highlighted wire costs, since νirtιιally aIl aew members are paid via a wire sent to a bank account in combination with some amount οn ca11s onboard. During the presentation he cited a recent World Bank study οn remittance costs. He revea1ed the globa1 aνerage is 5.7 with banks being the most expensive service providers with an aνerage cost οf oνer 11 . Costs being defined for this study include transaction fees, foreign exchange, and transit costs. Surpisingly the
least expensiνe option identified in thiw study, are prepaid cards.

Taking the same example οf 50 ships with 20 crew members and an aνerage wire transaction fee of $7.50, Mr Ostrow said that the wire fees for this company would approach 590,000 annually.

And most notably, this does not factor Ιτι the costs incurred by the seafarers when US Dollars are remitted to an account denominated ίη local currency. This ίs the -hidden cost incurred by seafarers since they do not haνe any visibility as to ,what the exchange rates are,. he added .•