Seafarer’s life must be made more attractive

The International Maritime Organisation’s Secretary General Koji Sekimizu has announced that the ‘seafarer’s life must be made more attractive’ to ensure that the shipping industry is prepared to meet the challenges ahead.

Writing on his blog, Sekimizu discussed ideas brought up at the Danish Maritime Forum held earlier in October this year, where Ministers spoke about the shipping industry as “indispensable for sustainable development” and with great potential for the future.

But, Sekimizu states, “growth will not be without challenges.”

"If the current fleet were to increase in size by 70 percent between now and 2030, as was predicted by many participants based on the growth trend of the last five decades, the current number of 500,000 officers needs to be increased to 850,000.

"If we assume that half the existing officers will retire by 2030, that means 600,000 officers would need to be recruited and trained from now, with an annual requirement for officers in the order of some 40,000.

"This is a real challenge and further effort must be made to bring new generations into seafaring as a profession. The seafarer’s life must be made more attractive. Simply improving the image will not work unless the younger generations see some actual benefits from serving the shipping industry.”

To read more of the Secretary General’s shipping, sustainable development and climate change visit his blog.