The cruise industry is looking for more than 140,000 seafarers to crew about 110 cruiseships on order, according to V.Ships Leisure.
Much of the responsibility for sourcing the manpower, especially for the 30-plus polar expedition newbuildings, lies with third-party shipmanagers.
V.Ships Leisure director Per Bjornsen says the 140,000 crew will include more than 5,000 deck and engine officers.
Managers say a particular issue is the predominance of European officers favoured by cruiseship operators.
A wider spread of nationalities is found across the global fleet of bulkers and tankers, but in the cruiseship industry a large proportion of officers come from countries with a cruise line heritage, such as the UK, Norway, Italy, Greece and the Netherlands.
That means there is a smaller pool of officers to choose from, says one manager. "It will definitely be a challenge.”
In contrast, stewards, waiters and housekeeping crew are easier to source from all over the world — typically from lower income countries including the Philippines, India and Central Europe.
Long-term trouble
"For the short term, I think we will be able to supply the crew but if you take the longer view and growth continues as it is, then somebody has to do something,” says the manager.
“During the last crunch on crewing, we saw a lot of companies and managers taking in cadets. But when the market fell and no one wanted to pay the few extra dollars for cadets' onboard training, we got to the point where there was a surplus who were unable to find jobs. It is a very volatile part of the industry.”
One company that says it has a “robust intake of cadets” is Wilhelmsen Ship Management. President Carl Schou agrees that, for the cruiseship industry in general, action will be needed if fleet growth continues at the same pace.
Wilhelmsen Ship Management’s cadet scheme, which operates at a general fleet level and not specifically cruise, involves also a Norwegian Shipowners' Association project.
When the market fell and no one wanted to pay the few extra dollars for cadets’ onboard training, we got to the point where there was a surplus who were unable to find jobs. It is a very volatile part of the industry
Schou explains that the smallest expedition cruiseships are also competing for the same officers as the high-end, larger private-yacht segment. And the size gap between the two niches is diminishing.
"Looking ahead, there is going to be a lot of competition,” Schou says.
Viking Ocean Cruises is Wilhelmsen Ship Management's largest client. The company also manages the 19,170-gt, 332-passenger luxury cruiseship Paul Gauguin (built 1997), which operates in the South Pacific, and the Chinese-owned, 20,295-gt, 345-passenger Saipan Star (built 1992). It is understood to have been working recently on at least three other cruiseship management possibilities.
New task force
With the growing interest in Arctic cruises and the introduction of the Polar Code, Wilhelmsen Ship Management has established a task force to develop a manual for the benefit of Viking Ocean Cruises covering such topics as vessel design and equipment, environmental protection and training.
Bjornsen concedes that Polar Code training requirements add to the challenge of finding sufficient skilled crew for the growing number of expedition cruiseships.
As well as the basic and advanced training required by the code, seafarers must all log sea time and that, Bjornsen says, poses difficulties for small cruiseships with limited berths.
“It is only in partnership with the operator [that] we can achieve the necessary amount of seafarers,” he says.
Interactive e-learning
V.Group’s Marlins subsidiary has developed interactive e-learning for basic Polar Code training.
The US-owned group, which has a global network of crewing agencies and a crew roster spanning various vessel types, says it already provides a “significant number” of seafarers to many of the large cruiseship operators.
Among its cruiseship management contracts is the 55,900-gt, 970-passenger Spirit of Discovery under construction at Meyer Werft in Germany. It will be managed by V.Ships Leisure’s dedicated fleet unit in shipowner Saga Cruises’ Southampton office.
Cruise Management International chief executive Jim Barreiro de Leon says his company has established new alliances with training centres and crewing agencies with a focus on Polar Code training, inflatable boat operations and other requirements to meet expedition market standards.
He says the company has created a training fund to “build expertise from within”.
But as well as recruitment, retaining crew is a priority. "We have to make sure we have a robust HR process with the benefits and conditions to make crew members want to stay with us,” Barreiro de Leon says.
