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How are maritime careers expected to change after Covid-19? Covid-19 has brought to light huge inefficiencies in the way that the maritime industry handles and safeguards seafarers. With gruelling reports of stranded workers still coming to light, how will future careers in the sector be affected? And does this industry risk going through a recruitment drought?

March 25, 2021

M How has Covid-19 affected future careers in the shipping sector? Credit: IFA teched.

aritime careers have been hard hit by Covid-19,

with many new recruits made redundant shortly

after the pandemic started.

In addition, an estimated 400,000 seafarers were unable

to return home during 2020 as a direct result of the

pandemic. Many were forced to stay aboard their vessels

for more than 11 months, the maximum period seafarers

can serve without leave under the Maritime Labour

Alexander Love

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Convention. This was hardly the best advertisement for

a maritime career.

However, as bad as the situation has been, there is a

view that it hasn’t been quite as dire as initially feared.

And government support has thrown the industry a

lifeline.

“Business is down overall. It would be bizarre if it wasn’t.

But it’s not been the car crash that we feared,” says Phil

Parry, co-founder of UK-based shipping recruitment

specialists Spinnaker Global.

“When we were staring into the abyss at the end of

March 2020, we were very concerned that we would run

out of cash within a couple of months. But we, like a lot

of our clients, have massively got on top of cash control;

and have been massively helped by the CJRS furlough

scheme.

“Without that, I think a lot of our clients would have

probably either gone under or into loss-making

territory.” Nevertheless, the maritime industry is likely

to feel long-term repercussions from the pandemic.

Entry-level career troubles

Sea cadets and seafarers have suffered the most from

the overall drop in maritime activity. Parry is also a

trustee of Maritime London, which offers scholarships

for seafaring cadets. He says there has been a noticeable

rise in the number of cadets dropping out.

“We’re losing trainees from the seagoing side of things,

and you have to wonder whether the thought of being

stuck on board ships if we ever go into another

lockdown, or another pandemic happens, will put people

off,” says Parry.

“I don’t think it will put people off the shore-based

industry. But it could put people off the seagoing side of

shipping. And we’ve heard of a number of early

retirements as well for seafarers during the pandemic.

So I think it’s bound to impact seafarers.

“It would probably be overblown to say a ‘shortage’, but

it certainly will impact supply.”

Parry predicts the situation will remain largely the same

in 2021. This lack of new recruits from 2020 until 2022 is

expected to create a two-year hole in experience that

will be felt in the years ahead. It’s also likely there will be

more competition amongst young people for jobs when

the situation starts to recover.

A similar situation occurred in the aftermath of the 2008

�nancial crisis. And while the Covid-19 pandemic

presents a totally different set of circumstances, some

parallels could indicate what lies ahead.

“That hole [in experience] will continue to move up

through the market,” adds Parry. “In 2009–2010, we saw

very little hiring of trainees and in particular for

“We’ve heard of a number of early retirements for seafarers during the pandemic” “

commercial staff chartering and operations staff. That

means that there are very few people around with ten or

11 years’ experience.”

“You end up having to get people with eight years’

experience or people with 13 years’ experience to �ll

those holes. So, it’s dif�cult to get experienced

operations commercial people that are not too senior,

not too junior. And we’re going to have that same impact

again.

“It just gets dif�cult to �ll those vacancies. It then

produces a candidate-led market, which has two

impacts. Either it means that vacancies go un�lled for a

long time. Or it means that salaries get driven up for

that cohort of people. So, good news for those who’ve

got the right level of experience or just above it, but bad

news for the employers.”

The bigger picture

While the junior level for recruitment has been virtually

non-existent throughout the pandemic, there has been a

demand for experienced personnel such as in dry bulk

operations. Applicants for higher up levels are also

sought after.

“In the middle, I would say that the market has been

depressed. Not dead by any means, but depressed. So,

it’s been ticking along at the mid-level. But at the senior

end, for board level and executive recruitment, we’ve

been very busy,” says Parry. “It’s been chief executives,

it’s been �nance people, it’s been crewing people; and

it’s been �eet management people, classi�cation as well.”

Ultimately, it is not expected that the maritime industry

will experience a long-term recruitment drought. But

the coronavirus could have a lasting effect on vital areas

such as training.

“There will always be a steady stream coming into the

industry. It’s how you train and manage those people; it’s

how you look after those people,” says Richard Turner,

CEO of Tapiit Live, provider of interactive live-streaming

training sessions for seafarers.

“You want to bring people through with the right

process. You want to manage them, you want to train

them and you want them to stay in the industry. You

want the future careers; you want [people] to go into

shore-side after that. And what something like the

pandemic does is cut that short.

“It’s a dangerous industry. So, you need your people to

come through, you need them trained in the right

manner.”

Future maritime training

For those newer recruits fortunate enough to keep their

jobs, social distancing and of�ce closures have made

training far more dif�cult during the pandemic.

“At the senior end, for board level and executive recruitment, we’ve been very busy.” “

Turner doubts that classroom training for the maritime

sector will ever return to pre-pandemic levels, adding

that 50% of businesses providing these services have

closed since March 2020.

“People have seen that they can do things online, they

can do e-learning. So I think that the classroom is pretty

much on its way out from a cost and environmental

impact,” suggests Turner.

“Obviously, there’s always going to be training that has

to be done in classrooms – a practical side element. But

at the moment, everything is dominated by the e-

learning portals and platforms.”

One of the lasting consequences of the coronavirus is

almost certain to be the widespread adoption of video

calls. Use has dramatically increased as a direct result of

the pandemic, with businesses forced to adapt.

A fairly new innovation is maritime personnel receiving

training via live streaming platforms. This method

eliminates travel costs, protects participants from

Covid-19 and facilitates interaction with an expert,

which is not always the case with e-learning.

Founded towards the end of 2019, Tapiit Live has been

leading the way with this innovation, thanks to a

“At the moment, everything is dominated by the e- learning portals and platforms” “

partnership with satellite company Inmarsat.

Turner says that Covid-19 has accelerated the

implementation of live streaming technologies on ships.

The capability was previously thought to be a decade

away.

“People want the classroom style where they can

interact with a lecture presenter, they can ask questions

in real-time,” he says. “We’ve got three cameras, we’ve

got presenters, we’ve got interactive sessions where

people are joining in conversations.

“We’re linking colleagues at home on leave with people

on the ship. They have full, interactive training together.

Our boundaries now are growing every day.”

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