Officers’ Shortage: Viewpoints from Stakeholders

This qualitative research looked into the views and opinions of the different stakeholders in the shipping/manning on the shortage of qualified and competent officers to handle modern ships of today. This shortage poses the biggest challenge shipping companies are currently facing. An in-depth interview of the participants was utilized in the data gathering for this study. It also looked into what maritime schools can do to help solve this problem. Findings showed that there are many sectors involved and have contributed to the present shortage of officers, namely: the shipping companies, the manning companies, the maritime schools, government agencies and the attitude of the seafarers themselves, not to mention the continuing demand for new vessels brought about by globalization of trade and industry.