Crew management for ships, otherwise known as crewing, are the services rendered by specialised shipping companies. Crew management services are an essential part of maritime and ship management that includes the management of all the various activities handled by crew on-board vessels, as well as related shore-based administration. Major locations where crew management activities are carried out from include Limassol (Cyprus), Singapore, Hong Kong and Malta.
Organisations that provide crew management services are known as crew management companies, or crewing managers, as commissioned by ship owners, ship managers, ship operators or charterers under a crew management contract.[ citation needed ]
Crew management companies are responsible for the human resources and manning of all types of vessels, utilising their management offices, as well as a network of localised recruitment agencies based in key seafarer sourcing locations. Most commonly, these services include crew recruitment, deployment to vessel, scheduling, and regular training and development. Crew management companies are also responsible for taking care of on-going management and administrative duties of seafarers, such as payroll, travel arrangements, insurance and health schemes, overall career development, as well as their day-to-day welfare.
Specialised crewing software, commonly custom-built by crew management companies is used to manage activities and crewing-related data. This includes the scheduling of crew on- and off-board vessels, industry certifications and documentation, crew logistical aspects in travel arrangement and payroll/HR, crew training and upgrading schedules, as well as office administration tasks, such as performance assessments and statistical analyses, feedback, management and ship-owner reporting and invoicing, client online interface, and an integrated CRM.
The majority of the international shipping industry's seafarer ratings are recruited from developing countries, especially the Far East and South East Asia, namely the Philippines (Filipino seamen), India and China.
The OECD countries (North America, Western Europe, Japan and others) remain an important source for officers, but growing numbers are now recruited from the Far East and Eastern Europe, with considerable numbers coming from Ukraine, Russia, Croatia and Latvia. Other major seafarer labour supply countries include Greece, United Kingdom, Ghana; and now companies are looking at Kenya, South Africa and others for the hospitality industry for the cruise ships.
Human resources and the human element of crew management is of utmost importance to the sustainable development of maritime transportation, as well as in turn to global trade. [1]
The main issue impacting the global crew management sector and the wider shipping industry is an expected shortage of qualified seafarers over the coming years, especially for specialised vessels such as chemical, LNG and LPG carriers, engineering officers, and officers at management level. The latter two mainly due to not having enough new vacancies open up to allow new cadets to receive the required training at sea, coupled with current market volatility.
Although the global supply of officers is forecast to increase steadily, it is predicted to be outpaced by increasing demand. [2] This poses concerns for future shipping activity and the sustenance of maritime know-how; both on-board and ashore.
These forecasted future global shortage in the supply of seafarers have been reported by many major industry bodies, such as Drewry and the BIMCO/ICS Manpower Report, [3] although differing in actual numbers. Regardless of the accuracy of these estimates, a continuing worldwide shortage of officers is also confirmed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). [4]
The International Maritime Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference held in Geneva in 1948 and the IMO came into existence ten years later, meeting for the first time on 17 March 1958. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, IMO currently has 175 Member States and three Associate Members.
Maritime transport or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throughout recorded history. The advent of aviation has diminished the importance of sea travel for passengers, though it is still popular for short trips and pleasure cruises. Transport by water is cheaper than transport by air or ground, but significantly slower for longer distances. Maritime transport accounts for roughly 80% of international trade, according to UNCTAD in 2020.
The United States Merchant Marine is an organization composed of United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, and engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine primarily transports domestic and international cargo and passengers during peacetime, and operate and maintain deep-sea merchant ships, tugboats, towboats, ferries, dredges, excursion vessels, charter boats and other waterborne craft on the oceans, the Great Lakes, rivers, canals, harbors, and other waterways. In times of war, the Merchant Marine can be an auxiliary to the United States Navy, and can be called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel for the military.
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom and comprises the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). King George V bestowed the title of "Merchant Navy" on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in the First World War; a number of other nations have since adopted the title. Previously it had been known as the Mercantile Marine or Merchant Service, although the term "Merchant Navy" was already informally used from the 19th century.
Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is an Australian statutory authority responsible for the regulation and safety oversight of Australia's shipping fleet and management of Australia's international maritime obligations. The authority has jurisdiction over Australia's exclusive economic zone which covers an area of 11,000,000 square kilometres (4,200,000 sq mi). AMSA maintains Australia's shipping registries: the general and the international shipping registers.
The history of shipping in Cyprus traces back hundreds of years. Its geographical position at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa as well as its proximity to the Suez canal has historically favoured merchant shipping as an important industry for this European island state. As of 2005 Cyprus holds the 9th largest merchant navy in the world and the 3rd largest in the European Union.
Witherby Publishing Group, formerly known as Witherby Seamanship, is a technical publisher of maritime, nautical and navigation training, reference and regulatory materials. The company is the resulting merger of Witherby Books and Seamanship International in January 2008. Beginning with its origins in 1740 it lays claim to being the oldest independent publisher in the English-speaking world.
The International Chamber of Shipping is one of the world's principal shipping organisations, representing around 80% of the world's merchant tonnage through membership by national shipowners' associations. It is concerned with maritime regulatory, operational and legal issues. Its membership includes over 40 national shipowner organisations.
The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) is one of the largest of the international shipping associations representing shipowners. BIMCO states that its membership represents approximately 60 percent of the world's merchant shipping tonnage and that it has members in more than 130 countries, including managers, brokers and agents. BIMCO states that its primary objective is to protect its global membership through the provision of information and advice, while promoting fair business practices and facilitating harmonisation and standardisation of commercial shipping practices and contracts.
The Maritime Academy of Nigeria Oron, Akwa Ibom State was formerly known and address as the Nautical College of Nigeria was established in 1977 by the Federal Executive Conclusion No. EC(77) 172 with assistance from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). It was established as a training institution under the Research and Statistic Department of the Federal Ministry of Transport. It was declared open for classes on the 6th of October 1979. The academy was originally designed as an integrated institution for the education and training of shipboard officers and ratings and shore-based management personnel.
The Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships, or Hong Kong Convention, is a multilateral convention adopted in 2009, which has not entered into force. The conference that created the convention was attended by 63 countries, and overseen by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Filipino seamen, also referred to as Filipino seafarers or Filipino sailors, are seamen, sailors, or seafarers from the Philippines. Although, in general, the term "Filipino seamen" may include personnel from the Philippine Navy or the Philippine Marine Corps, it specifically refers to overseas Filipinos who are "sea-based migrant Filipino workers".
The Danish Maritime Authority is the agency of the Danish Government responsible for regulating and administrating Danish maritime affairs. The Danish Maritime Authority (DMA) is part of the Ministry of Industry, Business, and Financial Affairs. The Agency consists of the central authority and eight vision offices, including the office in Nuuk and the Centre for Maritime Health on Fanø. Its headquarters are in Korsør.
Maritime resource management (MRM) or bridge resource management (BRM) is a set of human factors and soft skills training aimed at the maritime industry. The MRM training programme was launched in 1993 – at that time under the name bridge resource management – and aims at preventing accidents at sea caused by human error.
The Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute (TMTI) is on Amatuku motu, on Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu. TMTI provides training to approximately 120 marine cadets each year, to provide them with the basic skills necessary for employment as seafarers on merchant shipping. TMTI operates under the Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute Act 2000.
Piracy has taken place in a maritime area bounded by Suez and the Strait of Hormuz, in the region around the Horn of Africa, and waters surrounding the Arabian Peninsula; in the region of the Indian Ocean from the Red Sea through the Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Oman.
The International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) is an international NGO and UK registered charity that aims to assists seafarers and their families. ISWAN is the result of a merger between two organisations. These were the International Committee on Seafarers' Welfare (ICSW) and the International Seafarers Assistance Network (ISAN). ICSW was formed in 1973 and ISAN was established in the late 1990s. These two welfare bodies merged in April 2013 to form ISWAN. ISWAN's headquarters are in Croydon, Greater London.
The Electro-Technical Officer (ETO) is a licensed member of the engine department of a merchant ship as per Section A-III/6 of the STCW Code.
Autonomous cargo ships, also known as autonomous container ships or maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS), are crewless vessels that transport either containers or bulk cargo over navigable waters with little or no human interaction. Different methods and levels of autonomy can be achieved through monitoring and remote control from a nearby manned ship, an onshore control center or through artificial intelligence and machine learning, letting the vessel itself decide the course of action.
Maritime anti-corruption initiatives have emerged in the last decades as a response to the growing threat of transnational corruption in the maritime domain, specifically in the shipping industry which is responsible for around 90% of world trade. In the past, paying bribes at ports to pass through customs was perceived as normal behavior, but such activities resulting in higher operational costs lead to increasingly stricter national and international anti-corruption regulations being put in place.