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
Ship management is the activity of managing marine vessels. The vessels under management could be owned by a sister concern of the ship management company or by independent vessel owners.
A vessel owning company that generally has several vesse ...
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
Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...
(Cyprus), Singapore, Hong Kong and Malta.
Crew manager
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.
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
Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individual ...
, 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
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
, 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.
Source of seafarers
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
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
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.
Issues in crewing
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.
The main issue impacting the global crew management sector and the wider
shipping
Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...
industry is an expected shortage of qualified
seafarers
A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship.
The profession of the s ...
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. This poses concerns for future
shipping
Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...
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, 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
The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...
(IMO).
See also
*
Maritime history
Maritime history is the study of human interaction with and activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant. As an academic subject, it ...
*
List of freight ship companies
This list of freight ship companies is arranged by country. Companies listed own and/or operate bulk carriers, car carriers, container ships, Roll-on/roll-off (for freight), and tankers.
For a list of companies that own and operate passenger ship ...
*
Technical management
In general, technical management is the systematic efforts used in the deployment of a system or process and in balancing its cost, effectiveness and supportability during its life cycle.
Technical managers can be found at the interface of applic ...
*
Shipping companies
The following articles list companies that operate ships:
* List of freight ship companies for companies that own and operate the freight ships (Bulk Carriers, Container Ships, Roll-on/Roll-off (for Freights), Tankers and Gas Carriers).
** List o ...
*
Shipping markets
The international shipping industry can be divided into four closely related shipping markets, each trading in a different commodity: the freight market, the sale and purchase market, the newbuilding market and the demolition market. These four m ...
*
Sailor
A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship.
The profession of the s ...
*
List of maritime colleges
This is a list of maritime colleges, grouped by geographical region and country.
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
Oceania
See also
*Marine propulsion
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maritime Colleges
Lists of universities and colleges
*
Col ...
*
STCW Convention
International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) sets minimum qualification standards for masters, officers and watch personnel on seagoing merchant ships and large yachts. STCW was adopte ...
*
Glossary of nautical terms
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
International Maritime Organization (IMO)BIMCO international shipping associationInternational Chamber of Shipping (ICS)The Mission to Seafarers
Ship management
Merchant navy
International Maritime Organization