What will he do?

He may well think of the time he was stranded on board, the time he could not go ashore, the times that he missed his family, and rightly assume that the generous bonus just received should not be counted on as being a regular feature. He may then be sorely tempted to put the bonus money to good use and find a shore job or start a small business at home, and…he is lost to our industry.

So, what is to be done to slow this phenomenon also known as the ‘Crew Drain”?

There is no magic potion for this, but owners and ship managers may wish to consider these steps:

• Strive, wherever possible, for the crew members to be allowed to have shore leave.
• Look at pay and conditions, including daily victualling allowances, and avoid the temptation to counterbalance poor charter hire rates or rising bunker prices with cuts to crew costs.
• Encourage better-performing crew members to return for repeated contracts by means of return bonuses or allowances.
• It has been well proven that a motivated crew member does save owners significant amounts of money. So look at all possible ways to get the crew “on the side” and well-motivated. The industry simply cannot afford for the crew members to respond like “Deer in the headlights.”
• Involve the senior officers in ship management decisions and don’t let them simply be ship drivers.
• Investigate and develop career pathways that offer employment ashore within the ship owning and management community.

Several unmanned vessel trials are now underway, and no doubt the technology will be proven in due course. There are several unmanned tugs now operating in major ports. But for the foreseeable future, our ships will need well-trained, motivated crew members on board. We must be aware that this resource is finite and should be taken care of its sustenance accordingly.

Join me again next month on the Foc’sle when we will begin looking at Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) issues.