“MANNING CRISIS – SHORTAGE OF MARINE PERSONNEL – WAY OUT”

BY

SHRI J.K. DHAR

Principal, LBS College of Advanced Maritime Studies & Research

At

Industry – Maritime Seminar organised by CMMI, DRACEA and IME(I) with the
support of FOSMA, INSA and MASSA on 19th December 2008

1 Opportunities in these times of current economic slow down & world melt-
down

India has total of 35,000 officers & 1,10,000 seafarers. World shipping has
50,500 ships and need around 4,66,000 officers & 7,21,000 seafarers. At start of
year there was shortage of around 10,000 officers globally, which may be the
figures that continues till date. Indians account for around 5% of world manning.
(See Table-I)

Points to ponder:

1. Shipping trade at start of the year was around 32,000 Billion Tonne Mile
(BTM). Will this figure change and in which direction ? What % of new
building have been shelved or postponed ?
2. What will be the manning requirement for Indian & world shipping in next 5
years in view of this ?
3. In these times of Economic slow down, do indicators point at least to maintain
current manning strength ? Will number of retirement and shifting of jobs
from sea, a natural process in manning, continue as in previous years ?
4. What therefore should be the number of people trained at pre sea level to
maintain the present and future demand of manning ?
5. Opportunities in other professions like IT, Computers, Finance, etc. which
were in vogue for last few years are not so now. Preference for career in

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maritime sector may have gone up by a few notches. Should we cash on this
and thus train more ?
Has catchment area for this sector therefore increased automatically ? Is it
an opportunity ? Should we draw in more or same number of students at pre
sea level ? Will it create a surplus and unemployment ?
To the best of one’s knowledge as on date, some answers are:
Indication from major Indian ship owners is that Indian tonnage is expected to
grow very close to as planned. New additions, mainly for phasing out old
tonnage, will continue. No major change therefore is in offering on this
account.
Government has set up target of at least 7-8% of growth rate and is trying to
maintain this as is indicated by some major economic reforms that have been
undertaken by the Government. However RBI says 2009-2010 may be more
difficult year than 2008-09.
With regard to World economy, recession in USA, Europe, Japan may be
averaged out to some extent with Asian developing giants adding to world
economic growth, giving an overall growth rate of 1.5% or so against 3.5% of
previous years. India & China are two major economies that may give
sustaining leverage for growth. Some new buildings in China against no or
very few in South Korea and Japan have been reported to have been
shelved or postponed.
With respect to World sea trade, movement of major commodities like oil,
ore & coal may not be reduced and may therefore sustain sea trade at
around 30,000 BTM. (See Table-II)

Freight rates in general have been declining and indicates to lesser trade in
future. Some freight rates have declined more steeply, specially for dry bulks.
Transportation of oil accounts for 25-30% of sea trade & decline of freight
rate in segment has not been much & may be offset to some extent by other
positives including reasonably good growth rate of major South Asian
economies. (See Table-III)

For last few years we have had 5,200 pre sea training berths per year -
effectively only 3,000 have been joining as fresh officers at operational level.

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 This effectively figure of fresh entry of 3,000 per year seems to have
maintained the current demand of manning. (See Table-IV)

It would therefore seems that there will not be any unemployment, if we

maintain the above intake levels. Again since world shipping has special
place for Indian officers, instead of any competition amongst qualified Indian
officers within, there may be pressure of excess Indian officers, if any, on the
officers of other nationalities. This may be opportune time to increase or
maintain the manning numbers, and possibly be the right time to claim
larger percentage of world manning. Presently it is around 5%.

2 Catchment area for pre sea training institutes is a science student at 10+2
level with some minimum criteria as set by the administration

A very small percentage from the “available catchment area” do know about
career in shipping. Possibly, larger pockets of this “available catchment area”
who could be better suited, most willing for the profession, may not be aware
about the profession. Since India will remain developing nation for some time
and there thus always will be pockets within the country to provide talent to suit
our requirements of sea job, which is challenging, adventurous, more importantly
a career that has been constantly a better paying. Bringing awareness to these
pockets is imperative for industry to draw in right talent and in more numbers.

Points to ponder:

1. If a simple 10 minutes film on Dufferin could draw students from all corners of
the country 50 years back, I am sure, with modern communication systems,
we could showcase career in shipping to larger population, in remote areas
with better response.

2. Even in these times of global melt-down, country’s economy is expected to

grow at 7-8%. Government has been making right kind of moves to sustain

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 this growth rate. Serious thought has to be given if change in type of inputs
for Indian manpower for the world shipping is required.

3. As a nation, India should also increase the “available catchment area” by

raising Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) from present 10%. GER of 10% for
higher education is very small compared to 54% in some of the developed
countries. See Table-IV

Action points 1 & 2:

1. To increase number of training seats at pre sea level from 5,200 by 10%
every year to 10,000 per year. This will make available effectively 4,000
officers in 2012, 5000 in 2013, 7,000 in 2014 & so on. Respective numbers
for each year will have to meet demand arising from increase in world
shipping trade if any, replacing retiring personnel, filling gaps left by officers
shifting to other areas away from maritime industries, and possibly replacing
officers of other nationalities on quality criteria.
2. To draw more candidates from “available catchment area” by bringing
awareness by use of modern communication. To do so, provide finance, and
a responsibility centre group on long term basis. TV, Radio, Newspaper,
Seminars, visits of Schools, Colleges are a few of the modes, the group can
make use of.
3. To increase the “available pool size”; the countries catchment area size;
Country should improve in next 5 years as promised and budgeted for in the
11th Five Year Plan, the GER from its 12% level.
4. To increase intake strength for pre sea training at approved Training
institutions.
5. Also important is to increase the training slots available at sea, and
6. Finally, no part of training ashore or at sea during pre sea training or later at
post sea should remain unrecognised for university education for one to have
career progress in the sector. Provide confidence to all to excel and avail of
education system as long as one wants and in the field one desires.

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3 A Maritime University.

That there might be some greater meaning to maritime sector than just providing
sea jobs and a few managerial jobs, occurred in our minds three decades back,
at the celebration of Golden Jubilee of India’s first maritime Training Ship,
T.S.Dufferin, the ship which pioneered maritime education, had done no mean
job in providing finest of officers for Indian ships and a few Naval Chiefs as well.
Present on the occasion amongst prominent speakers was the Prime Minister of
India also. Since then, after three decades of dreams and prophesies, the
moment has come wherein, Indian Maritime Sector has broken terrestrial
shackles from the generic education system and set foundation for a world class
Central University exclusively for its own sector to cater to demands of every
segment. Intense work taken up in last 2 years including a flurry of meetings,
drawing of plans, DPRs, Drafts, redrafts, file pushing and other ground work has
made this to happen.

While specialised Central University will have higher objectives of providing

platform for research, innovation and consultancy that needs special mention
here, at the same time volume-wise, most importantly the university will act like a
pump for entire maritime sector providing it with rightly educated and trained
manpower at each level and in each segment. University will help in drawing
larger number of students into our industry either first for the ship and later for
the specialised fields ashore or directly for some specialised jobs which
presently are hard to fill. It will provide career for life and not just for sea. The
pump will have to be energised with the right kind of policies, planning, capital so
important for development of research and innovation. A thoughtful priming of
the pump is necessary for a good start.

University will bring relief to parched land, that has been denied nursing for
research and innovation.

University, where personalities will develop, some awesome and may be at

times one with frightened blend of brilliance, drive & competitiveness who may

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change the face of Indian maritime sector and the country with just a single
invention of revolutionising intensity.

University will provide a place where technologists, educationists and

entrepreneurs embodied together, under one roof, ever learning from one
another and drawing energy from one another for benefit of entire industry.

Points to ponder:

1. We have had best of universities in India having top rankings in the world.
Could they serve the Industry and fulfil desires of Industry and of many
thousand individuals with quest for higher knowledge. Did they provide a
platform for one to improve in ones career ? To meet demand of sector for
providing educated manpower at all levels including for sea and shore, a
specialised central university has been the need for maritime sector, which is
a major sector, highly capital intensive.

Action points:

1. There should be clear message sent across the country that there is a bright
career available in maritime sector, a career going beyond working on board
the ships.
2. University will act as a pump for growth of maritime sector. It will need,
therefore, a good and very thoughtful priming at the start.
3. University should be one of the main institutions to create flow into the
maritime sector of bright young people from the awaiting Indians (20 crores in
age group of 18-24 years of which 10% are at the 10+2 level of education).
4. University to provide course curriculum that will give credit to each and every
experience one attains on board and during his completion of Certificate of
Competency training. All experience and education to get credit for higher
education leading to specialisation & degrees at Masters and Ph.D. levels in
any field of choice. This will be a great motivating factor for younger people to
come forward to join this sector. This will provide to the Industry a talented
force in large volume, first for sea service, then for other areas of Shipping

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 Industry. Till date no university has offered this. Career in ships, career
beyond ships, career for life with unlimited choices of pursuing in field of
management, operation & research, allowing one to excel in any of the many
existing fields of the sector.
5. Simultaneously university to have programmes to create job ready, work
force at each level for Ports, Shipyards, Managing Companies, Surveying
companies, etc. Need to educate at the university, for specific task to reduce
manpower crunch in the specialised areas like Pilots for Ports. With
appropriate course curriculum, it is possible to provide education on fast track
to produce the quality pilots for ports at shortest time & in large numbers.
6. Formulate course curriculum that are modern and dynamic, at both pre sea &
post sea levels.
7. At the same time keeping the main objectives of “Research & Consultancy” in
forefront, provide platform for innovation & consultancy at all segments of
maritime sector.
8. All programmes have to be designed and made specialised for the maritime
sector.
Even a common management programme should have major electives, which
will be sector oriented to help produce fit for job, high decision making
officers. This, till date has been missing, in the Indian Education System.
Even for post degree general management course in shipping there is a need
for course curriculum correction. These programmes will have to be re-tuned
for maritime sector and further fine tuned for the particular stream in the
maritime sector.

4 Indian Tonnage and Manning

Precious foreign exchange for country is added by whichever humble way by

Indian seafarers working on foreign flag ships. This work force has been possibly
the first of its kind to add to foreign currency of the country. Much before Indian
IT or skilled & semi skilled Indian manpower established in foreign shores, Indian
seafarers have been on it. India has gone beyond that, and is now a place for
outsourcing for even most advanced technology based businesses.

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However at the same time, Indian tonnage has to grow. This growth is inevitable
and a must to improve the unfavourable percentage of “Indian Exim trade”
carried by Indian ships from its present low per centage of 12% (40% in 1980’s).

It is also said that a growth of 1% in Indian shipping results in 3% growth in

economy at national level. This is from the fact that shipping has multi economic
vector. And no one here would like “the manning” to be the critical path for those
who are forefront of planning the growth of Indian tonnage.

Points to ponder:

1. Indian ship owners would like to have sufficient number quality seafarers to
cater for the present and future planned tonnage.
2. Country also needs to add to its growth through shipping. Only way to
change the percentage of Exim trade carried by Indian ships in favour of the
country, which at present is mere 12% as compared to 40% in 1980’s.
3. Individual officers have served both Indian & foreign flag ships with equal
dedication and jeal.
4. However, though salary packet is not foremost but has been a priority criteria
for choosing a company.
5. Time is ripe to make other criterias then the pay packet as the deciding factor
for choosing a shipping company. May be employer-employee relation,
record of safety standards of a company, employer-employee relation at
junior level, steady career for officers at senior level and so on.
6. Indian manning pool, as combined force, available for Indian and foreign
employment with pay pockets at par, will make employer-employee relation a
long lasting, since the criteria of the being together in business as employer &
employee are factors other than pay packet. Employer will be happy, with
officer giving longer & lengthier service, both in terms of contract period and
total number of years of service. Proof of this happening lies in fact that not
many years back a few traditional shipping companies had all officers on its
rolls on permanent basis; No officer ever thought of shifting to other
company, because of the bonding one had developed with time and

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 attraction of higher pay packet was missing. Bonding only strengthened with
time. Mentoring of junior by senior, a must and only proved way of learning
on board ship would once again become a reality. No number of TAR books
and other paper work driven education can replace the learning that takes
place when senior is mentoring his junior on board the ship.
7. Combined force may make penetration into manning slots presently held by
other nationalities, since India & Indians confirm to providing best education
and training for its officers, officers who have been chosen for these
specialised jobs on board ships from a large pool of Indian population.

Action points:

1. Officers on Indian ships to get Income Tax relief and thus reduce or nullify the
salary difference between two sets.
2. Officer to get conducive environment of his liking both at the company & on
board the ships. With salary discrepancy removed, all officers will get
encouraged to stay with the same company for longer years.
3. Continuity with same company will get encouraged & culture of senior
mentoring the juniors on board the ship will return to maritime sector.
4. Government may look into ways of helping the sector like it has done for
other sectors, in whichever way possible to help growth of Indian tonnage as
planned during these difficult times.

5 Need for Restructuring of training programmes

It has become very important in modern days to understand as to what is exactly

expected from the officer at each level on board a ship in the modern times.

Points to ponder:

1. Has scope of job on board the ship changed with changing technology and
use of improved technology.

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2. Because of specialised ships, maintenance free or minimum maintenance
machinery, ship built as a block units, where replacement of full block is
choice and not the insitu maintenance, which is left for shore.
3. Has legislation, rules, procedures, national & international changed the profile
of the job on board. Have environment & security issues taken the forefront
and changed job profile for officers on board the ships.
4. What is the job profile of a modern middle level officer in present day ship
compared to that of 10 years or 20 years back.
5. Have we kept, specially at pre sea level, our course curriculum, training and
education in dynamic state to meet continuously changing scope of jobs on
board the ships.
Is technology across the ship that is in Engine Room & wheel house, similar
and simpler.
6. Is job changed from regress manual operations to more tender automatic
operations with little and no human intervention, wherever technology has
made it possible, within the systems.
7. What statistics are available, world over, to direct changes in course
curriculum to reduce down-time, make ship environmental friendly, security
conscious and more importantly, efficient.

Action points:

1. Need to reduce time taken for training & educating at pre sea & post sea
levels:

(i) Restructure pre sea level courses. To include and exclude from the
course curriculum the relevant portion required or not required.
(ii) Stress maximum on ‘on-job training’ – make it more result oriented
less a paper formality.
(iii) Stress on skill development on shore, on job training.
(iv) Simulator training to be comprehensive one. To incorporate
simultaneously simulation training with obtaining of underpinning
knowledge, working principles, trouble shooting & decision making
abilities.

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 (v) All training to be harmonised as part of university course curriculum;
to get credit for same; when opting for higher education and
specialised education.

2. Example – Graduate Marine Engineering (GME) programme restructured:

(i) 3 months of intensive training on understanding types of ship,

machinery & layouts; 4 Basic courses; intensive use of basic marine
workshop, fixed number of jobs to be done at workshop to improve
hand skills, use of Hand Tools, Power Tools. This training should
last for 6 days 8 hours a day for 3 months. (30% Theory 70%
Practical)
(ii) Next 2 months of intensive training, on ship in campus machinery;
which includes, dismantling and assembling, importance of
necessary parameters that needs to be checked, during normal &
scheduled maintenance of such machinery. (50% Theory 50%
Practical)
(iii) Next 3 months would be intensive training for 6 days 8 hours a day
which should be mixed with simulator, labs and class room training;
systems, layout, working principles, normal & emergency operation
of all ship machinery. (70% Theory 30% Simulators & labs)
(iv) Next 4 months should be intensive training on board the ship,
structured, monitored and mentoring. This should replace the
requirement of 6 months for appearing MEO-IV examination.
(v) Appear for MEO-IV Part-B Written & Orals

Above is an example and is a practical solution wherein syllabus, training

programme and simulator training has to be channelised; keeping in mind
job profile of such an engineer in modern times; and also help to cut down
on other course curriculum. Implementing this well-drawn, well monitored
and mentored course curriculum, the requirement of training on board the
ship is reduced to 4 months. This effectively increases the available on
board training slots for engineers by 33%. To the best of understanding,
no way can this changed programme hamper the quality of trained

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 personnel, since change is in view of changed need of the job as reasoned
above.

6 Dynamic, scientifically driven statistical data on seafarers

On-line statistical data on seafarers should be available at the earliest. This is to

help to make possible proper planning of manpower building, manpower
restructuring and providing information for various segments of maritime sector
that will help them in various planning and decision making.

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 Table-I
(a, b, c)

a)
AS ON DECEMBER 2008

No. of Officers Seafarers Cadets Crew Any other Total

officers/ Pre sea Pre sea
seafarers
as on date
Source
15,607 N 22,407 D 12,748 N 25,434 GP 63,728 *
16,043 E 7,984 E 12,896 E 14,491 SR 4,721 #
4,760 Ele 63,728 * 103 Poly 4,760 Ele
1,071 RO 4,721 # 27 Med
10,806 $ 10,806 $
31000+ 1,071 RO
As per EO+RO+
INDoS 4760+1071
statistics
1,09,646 25,747 39,925 27 2,12,826
37,481 As on date
3,000
As per per year
CoC - - - -
Statistics
20,000 as per CoC
+Ele+RO issued to
Class-IV or 2M
Table-IV 1500x2=3000
19,500 Indian Total CDC issued 1,37,000 (From 1971 onwards &
43,000 Foreign active seafarers)
As per 5,000 Foreign but not 67,500 are sailing
CDC registered Others (69,500) are on leave or engaged in other jobs.
statistics CDC issued from 1971 till date is 1,71,000
67,500
(No. of Jobs at Sea)

* undergone 4 courses, No CDC like ONGC

# CDC for other countries
$ Fitter / Pumpman

b)

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c)

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Table-II

Table-III

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 Table-IV
Revalidation Others
Chief MEO- MEO- MEO-
Masters Eng. Masters Mates 2nd Mate I II IV Total
2004 Mumbai 400 0 103 526 251 125 187 0
Chennai 30 10 0 0 53 0 0 42
Kolkata 40 0 64 89 106 125 187 0
Delhi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cochin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 470 10 167 615 410 250 374 42 1858
2005 Mumbai 478 0 261 455 394 65 229 0
Chennai 21 198 0 0 68 0 0 125
Kolkata 109 98 70 114 147 36 144 135
Delhi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cochin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 608 296 331 569 609 101 373 260 2243
2006 Mumbai 663 660 232 367 358 25 78 578
Chennai 37 207 0 0 55 0 0 104
Kolkata 110 412 60 106 157 37 171 278
Delhi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cochin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 810 1279 292 473 570 62 249 960 2606
2007 Mumbai 336 241 240 304 375 161 316 871
Chennai 43 67 0 0 72 0 0 73
Kolkata 66 102 82 102 171 81 296 282
Delhi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 100
Cochin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 50
Total 445 410 322 406 618 242 612 1376 3576 3576
2008 Mumbai 299 65 250 320 508 104 239 518
Chennai 16 30 0 0 61 0 0 68
Kolkata 299 36 86 320 148 103 160 480
Delhi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cochin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 17 131 336 72 717 207 399 1066 2797
Grand
Total 2350 2126 1448 2135 2924 862 2007 3704 13080
Total 4476

Total sailing officers as on December 2008 (Data from CoC numbers)

= [1] + [2] or [3] + [4]
4,476 +14,000 + 2,500 = 20,000
[1] = 4,476 (Total numbers having done Revalidation Master & Chief Engineer for
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008 (same officer repeat revalidation after 5 years)
[2] = 14,304 (Number of officers in any one year excluding Master & Chief Engineer
Revalidation) taking best of 5 years x 4 [25% each will be at exam, at sea, on leave
or getting into system] 3,576 x 4 = 14,304
[3] = 14,760 Number of officers in any single grade (2M + MEO-IV). This also gives
effective intake per year for shipping which is 3,000 approx. (2752)
1376 x 2 = 2752 x 5 = 14,760
[4] = All NCV officers [2,500 approx.]

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 Table-V
POPULATION ATTENDING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION BY AGE AND TYPE OF
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION (Census of India 2001)
All Figures are in Crore
College & others
Age- Total Attending Educational School Illiterates
group Population Institutions GER for
Higher
Education
22.87 *100 1.9 *100
All 102.8 22.87 21.0 1.9
102.8 102.8
ages
22 % 2%
16.05 *100
I – V and 6-14 22.57 16.05 16.05 -- --
22.57
VI - VIII
71 %
4.38 *100
Secondary 15-19 10.02 4.38 3.76 0.61 --
10.02
Education
& College
43 %
1.23 *100 0.84 *100
Beyond 20-24 8.9 1.23 0.36 0.84
8.9 8.9

9%

(2004 figures)
1.6 *100
18-23 11.33 -- -- -- 1.60
11.33

14 %

GER: Gross Enrolment Ratio

The GER measures the access level by taking the ratio of persons in all age group enrolled
in various programs to total population in age group of 18 to 23, For 2003/4 the GER for
higher education works out to 14%.

GER for developed countries

Enrolment in Higher Education by regions 2001-02 (in %)
Groups of countries Gross Enrolment Ratio
Developed countries 54.6
Countries in transition 36.5
Developing countries 11.3
World 23.2
India (About) 13%

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