Marine
Training
Present
and Future
Authored by: Capt. Robert Kitching - Associate Dean
BCIT-PMTC
Introduction
International
shipping companies, after nearly two decades of neglecting marine training
for officers, are experiencing a shortage of both deck and engineer
officers, especially with the higher levels of marine certification. The age profile of seagoing officers is now tending towards 50 years.
New cadets, currently being trained in first world countries, are
insufficient to even meet replacement needs. Canada has typically been a minor player in the supply of officer to
the international shipping market as, in the past Canadian salaries were
well above the medium level. This
however, is no longer the case.
New
ships being built are employing some of the most modem technology available,
requiring a much higher standard of education in young officers than
previously experienced. As a
result the demand for officers trained at first world training institutes is
growing. Shortfalls of 35,000
officers by the year 2005 are expected and there is a lack of training
facilities in many of the maritime nations.
Background
Marine
training both internationally and in Canada, is facing profound changes
after nearly two decades of decline. Throughout
the 1970s and 80s shipping companies faced with low freight rates, an
over-supply of ships and an abundant supply of low-cost labour from third
world countries, opted to save money by flagging their ships in countries
with open registries. Marine
training throughout most of the first world's maritime nations virtually
came to a halt. The term
"Ships of Shame" entered the lexicon. Dozens of founderings of poorly-manned and improperly-maintaincd
ships, with catastrophic ecological consequences. have forced the world
maritime community into action. In
1995 the nations of the world, through the International Maritime
Organization (IMO), introduced, as one facet of a tightening of
international regulations, new standards for professional certification.
These
standards, known as the Standards for Training, Certification and
Watchkeeping (STCW-95), require all national administrations to adhere
to a minimum standard of officer certification as well as to introduce and
monitor both international and national quality assurance standards. Simultaneously, with the introduction of the new STCW-95 standards,
the world's officer population is aging and, as a result of reduced training
over two decades, there is developing a shortage of skilled officers, both
at sea and in the management ranks of the maritime industry ashore. In Canada senior shore positions are increasingly filled by
immigrants with the appropriate qualifications.
The
technology employed in the modem ship to help offset the shortage of
officers requires a more advanced, technically trained officer than
heretofore. As a result,
officers trained in first world countries with their higher standards of
education are in demmand. To
encourage the better trained officer, salaries paid to ships officers,
especially at the senior ranks, are generally high, at least by Canadian
standards so a sea-going career is both challenging and remunerative.
Recent
studies around the world have identified a growing shortage of officers,
conservatively estimated by the - Baltic and International Maritime Council
(BIMCO) to be in excess of 35,000 officers by the year 2005. A recent report on the state of U.K. officer supply suggests that 71
percent of U.K. officers are between the ages of 40 and 65. Professor McConville (London Guildhall University) suggests that the
U.K. will have to train approximately 1000 cadets annually to help alleviate
the shortfall. Current training
is running less that 50 percent of that figure.
The
age profile of Canadian officers is equally apparent. Grey hair rather than gold braids the distinguishing feature.
Most
shipping companies are acknowledging that they are having difficulties
recruiting, or anticipate they will have difficulties in the near future.
Western Regional Director of Fisheries and Ocean and Ocean Canada and
Canadian Canadian Coast Guard stated that Coast Guard is already losing
officers to shipping and other ferry services, as they have a higher pay
scale. DFO/CCG are planning to
recruit both deck and engineer cadets from Canadian marine schools in
addition to their own college in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Why
Canada?
In
Canada, education under the Canadian constitution is a provincial
jurisdiction. The British
Columbia provincial government has taken the enlightened position that the
demand for qualified managers and senior marine personnel in shore
employment, as well as the demand for qualified sea-going officers, will be
better served by ensuring there are trained young Canadians to fill, what in
effect, are a large number of well paid positions.
Salaries
for qualified seagoing officers with a third class certificate will start at
between US$2,000 and $3,000 per month, rising to in excess of US$10,600 for
a captain or chief engineer serving on large tankers. Service at sea typically ranges from 90 days to 180 days per
tour, with from one-half to one-day leave for each day worked.
For
the young man or woman graduating with math, sciences and English from grade
12, an officers career at sea is a secure, well-paid profession with
phenomenal career prospects and travel opportunity.
Capt.
Robert Kitching is the Associate Dean at the Pacific Marine Training Campus (PMTC) of the B.C. Institute of
Technology. The PMTC has now introduced both Deck Officer Cadet and Engineer Officer Cadet
co-operative diploma courses in
conjunction with both domestic and international shipping companies.
The first group of 16 co-op cadets commenced their first seagoing training
in late June 1999. Acceptance of a cadet into the program included PMTC
already having earmarked a position with a co-op partner before accepting
the cadet.
This
article was published in the August 1999 edition of The
Westcoast Mariner