Concerns over shipbuilding quality are mounting due to labour shortages, delegates at a TradeWinds conference in Hamburg heard.
Despite rising orders for newbuildings and retrofits, the number of shipyard workers has not increased.
Owners and operators are concerned over the quality of new vessels and secondhand parts for repairs and maintenance, as well as newbuildings having adequate supervision to meet building standards, attendees at TradeWinds Shipowners Forum were told.
Alex Green, deputy general manager of MOL Plus, Mitsui OSK Lines’ corporate venture arm, said: “At a time when shipbuilding is up, it’s almost incredulous.
“We need to be doing more. We need to be bringing people in. We need to have conversations at a political level.”
Green indicated that, naturally, these shortages come off the back of the Covid pandemic, where many left the industry and subsequently had a knock-on effect.
“In terms of bringing people into the industry, that’s a question for politics. The conversation in terms of energy is obviously a key aspect for political parties and nations and the energy sector,” Green said.
“We need to get engineering qualifications subsidised and look at the security of education, to get these blue-collar jobs and respect them for what they are and understand how important they are.”
Green admitted extra support was needed to help shipyards better navigate current cost increases, with shipbuilding prices having risen by 50% in four years.
“The problem is we get new blood into the shipping industry every five to 10 years and they haven’t been there for a full cycle yet. So they’re looking at shipping prices now and going ‘wow, we’re not going to commit to that’,” Green said.
“But you have to point back to the inflation-adjusted mechanics behind these numbers. They are high now, but not as they have been.”
In terms of concerns over labour shortages in China and whether it may affect quality in retrofitting and repairs, Henrik Lykkegaard Madsen head of asset management at Danish owner Norden said: “We have seen a shift in China.
“Now it’s mainly state-owned facilities, ie Tier 1 shipyards, but I think generally the quality has improved, though more can certainly be done.
“There is bigger pressure on the shipyards, so I think that we may start seeing a deterioration with that pressure to build more.
“Right now, the shipyards are being filled with container ships and we will run out of bulkers and tankers eventually as they get too old. We definitely need to step that up,” Lykkegaard Madsen concluded.
