SUPERINTENDENT VISAS

News Release Spinnaker Consulting Ltd July 31, 2010

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Superintendents and
other former seafarers seeking shore-side jobs are being prevented from doing so
because of work permit and visa restrictions.
In spite of a widely
perceived shortage of former master mariners and chief engineers when seeking to
fill jobs ashore, restrictions on the issue of visas and work permits hamper the
work of getting such jobs filled.
“It’s not about
race,” says Spinnaker’s Chairman Phil Parry. “It’s not even so much about
immigration rules where the job’s based, but practicality – travel to visit
vessels often happens at short notice. Some nationalities, particularly
westerners, need fewer visas, some get them quickly…others don’t.”  It’s
common knowledge that many employers
insist on having a certain number of western superintendents to ensure
they
have enough people to travel quickly.  “One employer also recently pointed
out to Spinnaker the remarkably high cost of obtaining visas for other nationals
each year – it ran into many many thousands of dollars.”
“After all, if you
need to attend an incident, it is not possible to wait three weeks for visa
clearance,” Mr Parry says. He believes it is vital that maritime trade
organisations lobby governments hard to address this issue.
This isn’t a new
issue, but as seafarer shortages continue to bite and the western demographic
continues to lessen there must be a very real risk that shipping companies will
be unable to get in-house technical expertise out to vessels in the event of an
incident.  As time goes on, there is also a risk that salary discrimination
along nationality lines will re-emerge.  “The gap between western staff and
those from developing nations has got smaller in recent years,” say Spinnaker,
“but unless travel visa rules for shipping companies are made more user-friendly
the gap could widen again.”
Given the number of
newbuildings scheduled for delivery, even if there are cancellations or delays,
there remains a substantial shortfall of seafarers to man the new ships, and to
fill shore-side positions when they come ashore.
Spinnaker is
participating in the 2010 BIMCO/ ISF Manpower Study, which is due to deliver its
findings later this year on the extent of the supply / demand imbalance. Based
on the current shipyard order-book, some estimates put the number of new
seafarers needed at between 100,000 and 130,000.
The issue
of shortages has been talked about ad nauseam for so many years that it has
become white noise for some.  Ships are still sailing and with many in
layup some have begun to suggest that there isn’t really a problem.  “This
is irresponsible,” according to Parry.  “This last decade has been witness
to the early consequences of the problem – owners and managers have found it
increasingly hard to fill shoreside technical positions, poaching has increased,
seagoing and shoreside salaries and bonuses have risen (in 2000 to 2001,
superintendents were earning around 55% of what they earn now), senior
seagoing officers are getting younger and liability insurers have been pointing
to accidents caused by inexperience for a few years now.  It’s no
coincidence that TOTS was developed to
provide a universal crew
matrix focusing on verifying
experience levels.”
The supply and demand
situation has also encouraged the use of bonuses, according to Mr Parry. 
Ship managers and shipowners who employ both technical and commercial staff are
recording bonuses at very similar levels, commonly in the range 10-30% of base
salary, despite an understandable fall in 2009.   
Spinnaker acts as the
secretariat for the Maritime HR Forum, which is used by some 35 major shipping
employers to benchmark salaries and benefits packages for 40 shorebased
jobs.  According to the Forum’s manager, Sharon O’Ryan, “It remains a point
for debate as to what difference the bonus makes to individual performance and
the ability to recruit new personnel when the focus tends to be on base
salaries.  However, once people get used to bonuses it’s very hard for
employers to stop paying them.”
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