Intertanko and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) this week organized over three days in London a Workshop for young serving seafarers to express their views on their career and life at sea, and on what attracts young people to the shipping industry and retains them there.
The Young Seafarers’ Focus Group consisted of 20 volunteers of seven different nationalities drawn from the membership of both associations. All were young, serving seafarers of all ranks and from all ship types; all were proud of being professional seafarers; all were active participants in the discussions.
The fundamental concept of the Workshop was to draw on their thoughts, to solicit their comments, their views and concerns, and their recommendations as a collective group, without influence from Intertanko or ITF. Their initial findings were discussed directly by them with heads of industry and then presented in person to the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The hope is that the findings will provide additional stimulus within the industry to address attraction and retention issues.