Seminar studies maritime skills shortage
Submission by Sandy Galbraith, Senior Consultant, Thompson Clarke
The nature of the maritime sector is such that seafaring has traditionally been viewed as the starting point which can lead to a range of shore-based maritime related careers.
Seafaring skills and experience are viewed as being of direct use for a range of maritime shore-based careers including pilotage, marine surveying, terminal/cargo operations, port operations, ship management, marine administration, and maritime education and training. This flow of seafarers from ship to shore is important as it ensures that relevant skills and experience are not lost to the maritime industry.
However, in common with other key Australian industries, the maritime sector is suffering a major skills shortage.
On the 9th July, the Maritime Transport Policy Centre of the Australian Maritime College hosted a workshop in Melbourne to study the problem and examine pathways to solving the shortage.
The forum took the following format:
- Presentation by Peter Malpas, Group Manager Research (Australasia/Asia), Braemar Seascope, outlining the massive growth in shipbuilding orders which inevitably will lead to further shortages of maritime labour.
- Workshop 1 - The problems (group sessions) followed by feedback from Workshop 1 and discussion (plenary session).
- Presentation by Teresa Hatch, Executive Director, Australian Shipowners Association on securing maritime skills into the future.
- Workshop 2 - The solutions (group sessions) followed by feedback from Workshop 2 and discussion (plenary session) .
- Presentation by Eddy Suidgeest, Manager, Workforce Development, Transport & Logistics Industry Skills Council describing the Productivity Places Program currently being pursued by the industry.
- Concluding remarks by Sandy Galbraith, Senior Consultant, Thompson Clarke Shipping.
Early in the day, Peter Malpas revealed in stark terms the grim reality that we face a net growth in the world fleet of something like 5,000 vessels, which in manning terms translates to a potential shortfall of 25,000 to 30,000 officers worldwide.
Theresa Hatch explained that the shortfall locally could be as high as 2,000 – or 30% of the current maritime workforce – by as soon as 2010. The Australian Shipowners Association’s new maritime careers website is a great initiative and one whose time has clearly come.
Theresa said the people are there and they have got access to more ships than they need… so what’s the problem?
The issue is that the burden of training falls on a small number of companies within the industry. Having spent up to $150,000 to train someone to watchkeeper level, they then see other sectors poaching their talent without any form of compensation. How on earth do you compete with the $800,000 a year wage packages on offer for marine pilots in some ports in the West?
Retention is a major issue; clearly this industry is feeding on itself.
In the workshops we heard described the many problems which I won’t repeat now, but what clearly came through time and time again was the so-called “bottleneck” issue – funding.
It is obvious that burden cannot continue to fall on a small number of operators. We need to examine pathways to new funding models – whether that be in the form of a tonnage tax or a voluntary levy. That’s a debate likely to run for a while.
It is recognised that there needs to be a fundamental change in our industry – a sea change, if you like – and we heard a number of innovative ideas. Our industry is great at “talking the talk”; the challenge here is to demonstrate to everyone who matters in Canberra and beyond that we can also “walk the walk”.
It is obvious from the workshop discussions that the whole question of maritime training has to be addressed. Someone eloquently described it as a 19th Century training system struggling to come to terms with the 21st Century reality of modern day shipping.
The industry faces major challenges ahead. What is obvious to us all is that the bottleneck has to be cleared; people have to flow through the education system unhindered.
The workshop was tremendously useful in determining some of the ways and means to get rid of that hourglass and replace it with a free-flowing system that works to everyone’s advantage.
The industry must be more engaged in the policies that impact on it - right across the board. And to this end I applaud the move by the Australian Maritime College to establish a Maritime Transport Policy Centre and I would encourage you all – especially the peak industry bodies – to lend the centre your full support. For the past two decades at least the shipping industry has failed signally to get a convincing message across to key Government decision makers, while other transport modes – notably road and rail – have skilfully garnered influence where it matters.
The Australian fleet has halved in the past decade or so - arguably the Australian shipping industry has already gone beyond what could be considered critical mass, but it need not be terminal.
The Policy Centre offers a unique opportunity to the shipping industry to present a factionally independent argument to those people who matter in Canberra and our various State Houses of Parliament. I urge you to give it your full backing.
The AMC and the other nautical training establishments are moving in the right direction. There is a unity of purpose between them on the issue of maritime training in this environment of a growing skills shortage.
This workshop demonstrated that there is much to be done. However, at least now it is clear that the industry very much has the issue firmly focused in its sights.
Sydney: +61 2 9929 9468 Melbourne: +61 3 9646 3155 Email: exec@thompsonclarke.com.au |
