Ensuring Africa becomes a viable source of seafarers for generations to come

Ensuring Africa becomes a viable source of seafarers for generations to come
June 19, 2023 https://splash247.com/ensuring-africa-becomes-a-viable-source-of-seafare...

Craig De Savoye, commercial director at Protection Vessels International, with advice for those looking at Africa as a future crew sourcing area.

On June 8, Splash ran a story on how seafarer labour market tightness are at the highest levels ever recorded.

According to the latest report published by shipping consultants Drewry, officer supply shortage has hit an all-time high and is unlikely to improve, resulting in manning cost inflation. The officer availability gap has widened in 2023 to a deficit equating to about 9% of the global pool, up from a 5% shortfall in 2022. This is the highest level it has been since they first started analysing the seafarer market 17 years ago.

The news does not get any better as they also forecast deficits through the next 5 years. As a result, according to Drewry’s head of manning research Rhett Harris, “Employers are seeking alternative sources of supply to fill the gap, and wages have also begun to show more volatility”.

I think about sourcing crew from Africa, and how comments from the most recent Maritime CEO Forum in Singapore by Mark O’Neil, president of Columbia Group, are so applicable to developing the seafarer pool on the continent. O’Neil said that shipping needed to adopt “proper” human resource management.

“We talk about crew and personnel departments but this is antiquated,” O’Neil said, urging the industry to better identify with crew, something that had improved with covid. This would include better communication, and detailed, encouraging career planning.

Over the past 2 months, I’ve had many discussions on the topic of sourcing crew from Africa and there are two essential elements for success, one of which was aptly addressed by O’Neil.

Create your own solution

There are a handful of shipmanagers who have embraced the fact that they need to invest in Africa in order to build a seafarer pool there. They are hands-on with identifying candidates, ensuring high quality training, and developing a career plan for their seafarers.

It is beyond a doubt that the companies who take this approach will harness the most potential from the continent. From all my interactions with seafarers in Africa there is one consistent message – they are eager for long-term career progression and will work very hard if progression is demonstrated to them. To think that Africa is some immediate panacea for seafaring shortages is simply wrong. To make it work as a viable source for the next generation of seafarers, it would be folly not to follow the wisdom of O’Neil.

Beware of those seeking a quick buck

Since Africa is being discussed more and more as a potential source to make up for deficits in seafarer numbers, there has been a plethora of manning agents spring up who make promises that are simply unachievable. Beware, for many of those are not planning to be around for the long-term, but simply want to get in on the gold rush before others.

Time again I hear stories from ship managers of their dealing with manning agents of false promises and shoddy paperwork; and from the seafarers I hear of manning agents who hold salary; place them on ships with terrible conditions, and of course with all those practices – zero career potential.

To ensure Africa becomes a viable pool of seafarers for generations to come, managers need to avoid the temptation to rely solely on manning agents and take up the advice of O’Neil to create their own solution, and ensure that the solution is sustainable for years to come.