Today, balance rules between supply and demand on the world’s seafaring labour market, although there is a modest overall two per cent shortage of officers, the latest update of the ISF/Bimco Manpower study shows.
The study was first published in 1990 and has since been updated every five years. This years update is the most comprehensive ever. It is built on far more data and cannot always be compared with previous results. This update has for instance “found” more officers in the world than the previous ones. According to the 2005 update, there were 466,000 officers in the world, while this year’s update has counted 624,000 officers. In addition there are 747.000 ratings in the world’s merchant fleet.
The report emphazises that there can be more severe shortages in some specialist positions, in some market nisches and that also the general shortage could increase significantly. The balance today has mainly been caused by the financial crisis and the world economic downturn. In one scenario with a fast recovery, an 11 per cent shortage is predicted in 2015, shrinking to nine per cent in 2020. In a “cold scenario”, the shortage remains at 2 per cent 2015 to become a 2 per cent surplus in 2020. In a benchmark scenario that represents the most likely development according to the study, the general shortage will grow to 5 per cent in 2015 and decrease to one per cent in 2020.