The opening discussions of Crew Connect Global, the event currently being held in tandem with Seatrade Cruise Asia in Manila, seek to delve into the different aspects of maritime crewing, as well as the need for cruise and shipping firms to properly invest in human resources.

These discussions were made possible through the partnership between Seatrade Cruise and Seatrade Maritime.

As Seatrade Maritime group director Chris Morley put it: “It is a great pleasure to have two parts of the same family back in the same room in a ‘bumper edition’ of these two events.   

Along with an overview of the crewing sector in general, discussions also delved into key issues like mentoring, long-term retention, bottlenecks affecting talent acquisition and retention, as well as travel optimisation.

What does the sector look like at the moment?

Holland America Line’s senior director for maritime operations and people Eric Visser pointed out that, when it comes to sourcing for crew members, Southeast Asia is where it’s at.

Visser said: “The Philippines and Indonesia are our main source market, as in these countries the whole infrastructure is present from training centres to flag state approvals, and more.”

Royal Caribbean Group AVP for talent acquisition Cherece Vina presented a similar opinion, though she pointed out that India and Indonesia were the centres when it came to recruiting crews in the Asia-Pacific. Vina was quick to point out that, in recent years, quite a number of crew members have been recruited from Thailand, Vietnam and South Africa. 

For his part, Bernhard Schulte Cruise Services general manager for India Sanjay Kushwara remarked that there are around 90,000 of his countrymen presently working on cruise ships. The Indian government wants to augment this by 20 percent through the opening of more maritime institutes and colleges in the country.

Philippine Transmarine Carriers (PTC) executive director for business development and shipping Katherine Avelino concluded by saying: “Asia will continue to be a good source of talent.”

Training remains an issue

Avelino, however, pointed out the issues presently affecting the talent acquisition process. She cited the crucial difference between life on land and the more hectic life at sea.

She said: “Cruise jobs are not for those who are overly concerned about work-life balance and mental wellness. They may find long hours away from their families far from attractive.”

Oceanic Hospitality Training Centre’s training director Michael Wiesner likewise discussed how jobs requiring lower skill competencies are easily filled, but some highly specialised occupations, particularly those aligned with hospitality, wellness, and food & beverage service, can be difficult to fill. In which case, he recommended that cruise lines consider training up staff or work closely with colleges and universities offering aligned courses.

There is also something of a generational clash when it comes to much younger applicants, some of whom are fresh out of school.

Royal Caribbean’s Vina said: “Younger generations are looking for faster progression…and a readjustment is necessary to take into account the increasing importance of artificial intelligence, digitisation, and how the industry has changed since 20 years ago. In an era of TikTok, ‘bite sized learning’ is the optimum way for younger generations to absorb new information.”