Rising Demand for Technical Shipping Candidates

Press Release May 20, 2011

The latest report by shipping industry recruiters Faststream reveals that there is a rising global demand for ex-seafarers in shore based positions.

In its Maritime Employment Review - Technical Shipping published today (20 May 2011), Faststream reveals an upsurge in candidate placements in 2010/11. Globally speaking, the average age of a technical shipping candidate in the past 12 months was 42 and the average salary of £55K (USD $89K / SGD $111K). Typically, the company was able to find and place a candidate within nine weeks.

Key findings of the report include:

·         UK employers feeling impact of immigration cap
·         Growing demand for technical people from commodity houses
·         Classification societies hiring again
·         Technical superintendent salaries firm
·         Continued growth of Singapore as a ship management centre
·         USA dominated by tanker hires

The report also shows that the churn in the ship management sector has led to more candidate movement in the past 12 months than in 2009 and that more than ever before is being asked of mid and senior level technical employees.

Faststream group managing director Mark Charman said:

“There are more jobs out there and there are good candidates too. We are not however seeing the speculative hires of the boom years, when companies were snapping up experienced technical staff and then worrying about finding them something to do. Today the challenge for employers seeking to bring in new blood or expand their operations is persuading candidates to move job and possibly relocate.”

He added:

“At the best of times it can be a difficult task to ask a good candidate in employment to take the leap and join your company, but against a backdrop of a difficult housing market, pessimism and uncertainty surrounding the general economy and a general sense of caution, employers searching for experienced and polished technical shipping people need to communicate the strength of their companies and be prepared to be flexible.”