Maritime CEO Forum in Singapore kickstarted an important debate on what every seafarer undergo in their peak of their career life. Should seafarers ditch their career at sea early?
Mark Charman, CEO, Faststream recruitment and a moderator of the event, pointed out from a survey that at an average age of 31, seafarers want to move from sea to shore based jobs. There were various reasons sighted by participants for and against that opinion.
Why it’s good to come ashore early?
- The Crew should come ashore earlier. It is hard when you are in your mid- to late-40s coming ashore as you start at the bottom of the ladder. There is no way you will get the top job, – P B Subbiah, director of human resources at Pacific Basin Shipping,
- It is very difficult to come into lower management when you have been a Captain or a Chief engineer before. It is better to come in earlier. – Kenny Rogers, head of Aurora Tankers
Why it’s not good to come ashore early?
- It would be disastrous if we were turning over our seagoing staff at 31. We need to make the conditions onboard better. – Warwick Norman, the head of vetting platform RightShip.
- Sending people ashore too early would create too many “incompetent people” both ashore and at sea, – Lars Modin from V. Ships
How to bridge the GAP?
Frank Coles, the head of maritime technology firm Transas, who himself came ashore aged 30 after 12 years at sea said, companies need to make a greater interaction between ship and shore. He noted how one large European container player rotated masters through head office every three months. The prime thing required to achieve that is the desire to improve conditions.
