“Over the past decades, maritime employers have expressed concerns about the shortage of manpower, officers and crew. The situation has worsened with the growth of ship registries and the apparent reluctance of societies to adopt sea-going occupations. Given these circumstances and notwithstanding incentives offered, the shortage of manpower is likely to continue."

1) Realistic situation in the shipping world concerning the shortage of qualified and trained manpower
The Manpower Crisis
The shipping industry has been a aware for a long time that manpower shortages imminent and would eventually become critical. Shipping companies and even governments have been urged by organisations such as BIMCO to do something about this upcoming shortage, particularly of officers.

During the period approximately 1973 -1989, when shipping was in recession, recruiting unfortunately also dropped, in all areas of shipping, both afloat and ashore. Because of this, the age profile in the shipping industry has become distorted, and many senior people are now retiring, with a shortage of qualified professionals to take their places. It is a slow process to recruit and train replacements adequately, due to the experience required to competently man a ship. It typically takes 10 years for a shipmaster or chief engineer would qualify, and several more years to gain the necessary experience to be in a position to operate a large merchant vessel. The expansion of the world fleet has exacerbated this situation. In addition there is has been considerable attrition in the floating workforce due to people wanting to work ashore in the marine industry, particularly since the institution of ISM.

Due to the current recession, the manpower shortage has eased off slightly. It is hoped that this will not encourage companies not to actively recruit. Shipping as nad has always been cyclical. It would be very surprising if, during the next boom cycle, there is not a severe, even debilitating shortage of qualified manpower, particularly senior officers. The senoir staff ashore are being slowly replaced as they retire by floating staff, who are not being adequately replaced. This will have a knock-on effect.

In 2010 the International Shipping Federation will publish their 5-year manpower update, which will give a fairly accurate assessment of the situation. An excess of manpower in the shipping industry is not predicted by this writer. in fact, an extremely severe shortage within the next few years is imminent.

2) Steps taken by various bodies, government, employers' federation, unions, etc to rectify the situation
Steps taken to rectify the situation
We can train the crews to work on board more sophisticated vessels and send them for training. This is because training and skills development, and collaborative efforts can attract and retain suitable manpower. Furthermore, we have to ensure that seafarers go out to sea for short durations and created a work culture with options–work life balance that includes simulators’ computer-based training modules. This is to ensure that marine officers and engineers acquire knowledge and experiences in every face of tanker operations promote secure employment. There are also internet facilities onboard for the crew in order to have contact with their families and friends. We have provided cheap calling cards thus offering the crew with the facility to be in touch with their families. We have family carriage policy which includes children and promote the welfare and well being. This is not just for the senior officers but also includes the junior officers. Besides, the quality of food provided on the ship is of the highest. We are known to have the highest victualing rates in the industry, and cooks from top hotels. And also, we can urge ship-owners and ship-managers to invest in the training and upgrading of the skills of seafarers sailing on their ships, rather than leaving the training to someone else while they themselves merely poached trained crew members. The master should also create a homely atmosphere on the ship for their crew, and to be personal and treat everyone as a part of my extended family. Another thing to prevent shortage of manpower is to hire more foreign workers.

3) Effectiveness of the measure taken.
No. From the research, though the dependency ratio of local to foreign workers for the Marine sector will also be raised from 1:3 to 1:5 next year and the overall unemployment rate fell to 1.7 percent in September this year, The worldwide supply of seafarers in 2010 was estimated at 624,000 officers and 747,000 ratings, while the current worldwide demand for seafarers is 637,000 officers and 747,000 ratings. South Africa requires at least 36 000 seafarers based on the over 4 million tons of cargo but currently, there is only 1 800 seafarers at stand. 4) Analysis of the root causes to account for the reluctance of societies and people to adopt a sea-going career
Reasons why there are shortage of manpower in the marine industries.
1.Expensive initial training:
Any one who is coming out of a college can not straight way take up shipping as profession. Some shipping related courses have to be completed from the Marine Training Institutes. The course fees demanded by the Training Institutes are very high for a person to choose shipping as a profession. Further, many institutes are not recognised by the government and legal bodies.
2.No career growth:
Career growth for the persons who take up shipping as their profession is very limited. Like in any other profession where one can aspire to become the head of the organisation by competence, here in shipping no such vertical career growth is possible. At the most, one may become the Master or Chief Engineer of a Ship and further vertical growth is limited or not possible.
3.Limited shore jobs:
One can not afford to remain in ship for life time to earn his bread. At some point of life, a seafarer has to take up shore job. But unfortunately, not enough shore jobs are available for a seafarer. At the most he may get some marine based shore jobs in coastal area.
4.Unstable career:
Very few seafarers only can take up shipping as their life time profession. That too without any career growth. At the end of their life, they realise that no significant achievements were made.
5.Less manpower and more work:
Shipping companies, to attract more people in the shipping, tend to pay more salary. This is only an illusion. To pay more the shipping companies reduce the man power in ships. Ultimately the seafarer is made to work more.
6.Not able to cope up with technological developments:
The Navigational equipments and Engine contol systems in the ships are mostly electronic. Due to technological advancements, the seafarer has to update his working knowledge of these equipments. If the seafarer is not able to cope up with these developments, he is bound to fail in his profession.
7.Rough seas and sea sickness cause less productivity:
As the ship is a three axis moving platform, rough seas cause sea sickness that affects the productivity of the seafarer which is unique in ships.
8.Piracy threats and Marine terrorism:
Piracy attacks and Marine terrorism on the ships are increasing globally. Unlike storm warnings, no one can predict these surprise attacks.
9.Natural calamity:
Though storms and rough weather can be predicted, there are increasing instances of ships getting caught in storms and rough weather that result in groundings,collisions and allisions.
10.Multi cultural environment:
The ships are manned by multi cultural crews who have different lifestyles, religions and languages. The seafarer has to adapt himself to live in multicultural environment. Failure to adapt, results in lesser productivity of the seafarer.
11.Frequent validations, training needed:
To sustain in ships, seafarer has to undergo time bound validation courses in recognised institutes which are time consuming and expensive.
12.Unsafe ships:
Ships have definite lifecycle and are not sea worthy beyond that. But shipping companies try their best to extend their life cycle and sail the ships. The ships become unsafe and the seafarer has to face more marine accidents.
13.Increased suicides in ships:
The instances of suicides by the seafarers in ships due to their frustration in work are increasing every year.
Personal hazards:
14.Salary not adequate:
Considering the salary paid in other industries like Information Technology, cost of living and other professional hazards in shipping industry, the salary paid to the seafarers are not adquate.
15.Disturbed family life:
A seafarer is not lucky to remain with his family members throughout his career like his shore based professionals. A seafarer can not be with is family members in cases of emergencies. Further he has to forget about birthdays,Christmas,wedding anniversary and any other social and family events.
16.Health:
Due to work related stress, non availability of fresh food, lack of recreational facilities and inadequate medical facilities in ships, the health of a seafarer deteriorates faster.
17.Loneliness, boredom:
As the seafarer is subjected to “Bigger ships and lesser Manpower” concept of shipping companies, the seafarer till he signs off has to face loneliness and boredom. This also reduces the productivity of the seafarer. To overcome loneliness and boredom, a seafarer slowly becomes an alcoholic.
18.Faster turnarounds, no breaks in harbour:
Due to better cargo unloading facilities available in ports, ships turnaround time has drastically reduced. Practically ships crew don’t get any breaks in harbours to refresh themselves.
19.Communication problems:
Though English is the universal language, as the ships are manned by multicultural crew, communication problems exist between the crew. In addtion communication problems exist between ship and shore authorities. At times, this leads to misunderstandings and cause unwanted incidents.
20.Personal safety:
A seafarer has to lookafter himself and if he is not able to get along with ships crew, his life is not safe.
21.Medical facility:
Similarly a seafarer is expected to remain fit and remain seaworthy. Medical facilities are inadequate in ships.
22.Anyone can not be a Seafarer:
To become a seafarer, a person has to be psychologically fit in addition to medical or physical fitness. To assess the suitability to become a seafarer, psychometric tests are conducted at entry level training of seafarers.
Social hazards:
23.No recognition in society:
A seafarer due to isolation from his family members, gets slowly isolated from the society also and has no recognition in the society.
24.Seen as a high income man but spends more than he earns:
A seafarer is visualised by many in the society as high earning member whereas most of the seafarers spend more than they earn.
25.Not able to mix up in society:
Many seafarers are not able to mix up in a heterogeneous society as they interact with limited people throughout their career. They mix up successfully with other seafarers only.
Legal hazards:
26.Pollution:
If a ship pollutes the sea due to whatsoever reasons, ships crew including the captain of the ship have to face legal actions.
27.Marine accidents:
If a ship gets involved in collision, allision, grounding, fire etc.,the ships crew including the captain of the ship are liable to face legal actions.

5) Cases where the bodies concerned have succeeded and cases where they have failed, and why.
FAILED CASE
India supplies about 6% of the world's shipping manpower but as a result, domestic owners are facing a severe drainage of seafarers.
According to SS Kulkarni, executive member of the Indian National Shipowners' Association (Insa), the country is facing a shortage of about 1,000 officers and the problem will only get worse as Indian owners take delivery of newbuildings.
Officials at Mercator Lines single out the availability of masters, chief engineers and first assistant engineers as particular problems.
The shortage has now forced owners to consider recruiting foreign nationals to plug the gaps.
After much persistence by owners and the Insa, the Indian government has approved the employment of foreign nationals on Indian-flag ships.
Owners can now recruit up to two foreign nationals per ship as deck or engineering officers but the concessions come with conditions.
Personnel from only 12 designated countries can work ships flying the Indian flag Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Malaysia, Romania, Russia, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. This is because training courses in these countries are recognised in India, say government officials.
The guidelines, however, still do not allow a foreign national to become the master of an Indian-flag vessel.
In addition, owners have to go through tedious bureaucratic procedures and paperwork to get clearances from several ministries before they can take on foreign recruits.
So far, only Pratibha Shipping has done so, appointing a Russian national as a senior engineer.
The Insa claims the 33% seafarers tax levied on employees working on national-flag vessels is a deterrent to recruitment.
Pratibha boss Sunil Pawar says domestic owners pay the same as foreign owners but do not compensate seafarers for the tax component.
Normally, a master employed on an Indian-flag vessel receives between $10,000 to $11,000 per month on par with what he would receive working under another flag.
Owners such as Shipping Corp of India (SCI), Garware Offshore (GOL) and Great Eastern Shipping are taking steps to overcome the crewing problem.
SCI director Kailash Gupta says the company has started recruiting more cadets and officers on both the nautical and technical sides to meet the shortage.
Others are offering juicier incentives.
A Great Eastern official says his company is making efforts to retain key senior personnel by providing benefits such as high-speed Internet access, free telephone calls and free medical insurance, while Garware is doling out lucrative carrots including free life-insurance cover, comfortable accommodations and health-care expenses.
However, despite this, he says the problem still persists. "One cannot stop anyone from going elsewhere if he feels the grass is greener on the other side," he commented.
Pawar believes the shortage can only be corrected by turning out more engineers and officers.
International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) secretary-general Tony Mason argues the Indian shipping community has to become more global in its outlook.
He says that in order to compensate for the lack of domestic talent, Indian owners will have to recruit more people from the Philippines, Bangladesh and other countries with cheaper labour.
Indian owners are resorting to third-party management of their vessels at a high premium but these organisation are facing similar problems.
"Even we are now facing a shortage of recruiting fresh talent into the industry for manning various Indian vessels as young talent prefers other opportunities," said one shipmanagement source.
Senior V Ships executive Sandip Khanivadekar says the solution lies in upping awareness in rural parts of India. "[There]we can then find adequate talent and more personnel," he said.
"As an individual shipmanagement company we only assist in creating awareness but the initiative has to be taken up at the government level, where there is the required machinery and widespread network to address such problems," he added.
Kulkarni says that apart from the tax issue, the problem of harassment of Indian seafarers on foreign shores such as the detention of two Indian officers by South Korean authorities following the accident involving the tanker Hebei Spirit also deters young Indians from joining the shipping sector.
Recruitment problems are also being experienced by the growing shipbuilding industry, which lacks quality manpower in naval architecture and design, blasting and painting, engineering and among qualified technicians and advanced tool handlers.
Shipyards Association of India (SAI) senior official Prashant R Govil says that out of the 50 naval architects India produces annually, more than half leave the country and the local shipbuilding industry in the lurch.
"We are not against their desire to join other companies but we want the Indian government to set up more institutes so we produce an additional workforce for our use," Govil said.
New shipyards like Pipavav and Bharati are establishing links with local technical colleges to train and recruit quality personnel in highly skilled jobs.
But there is competition from other sectors.
With demand for IT specialists and engineering in the electronics industry, which is growing in importance in the Indian economy, many qualified engineers are choosing this option rather than taking on what is perceived as a non-glamorous job at a shipyard many of which are located far from major towns or cities.

By Pinaki Routray, New Delhi

6) How have the efforts, if any, been frustrated by market forces and regulations.

7) Looking forward, what are the steps that should be adopted? What incentives and strategies ought to be offered to ensure success?
Incentives:
‘Financial’ incentives...These are often referred to as subsidies and may be direct and/or indirect in nature. Incentives include accelerated depreciation (which lowers taxable income) and cabotage (which reserves coastal trade for national flag shipping, thus protecting it from international ship operators with lower cost structures). Some countries provide direct financial support/incentives for maritime training. This support may be available to some or all of the following: • Trainees, e.g. financial incentive to cover training costs ashore and/or afloat • Ship operators, e.g. financial incentive to assist with costs of training a seafarer ashore and/or afloat • Maritime education and training institutions, e.g. financial incentive to assist with costs of providing seafarer training courses

Strategies:
The long term solution lies in increasing the intake at the entry level, and nurturing it thereafter, so that competent personnel choose ‘offshore Seafaring’ as a career for the life time. One of the main reason for very few youngsters opting for an NCV/Offshore career is the lack of awareness about the career. OSPA proposes to satrt an awareness campaign about the career in offshore seafaring which will include the following:- * Visit schools and conduct lectures and counseling sessions for students. * Prepare pamphlets and mail them to schools/colleges/engineering institutes. * Start a website for online information. * Start offshore career counseling helpline * Organize an awareness campaign through print and TV media