China Needs More Ships' Officers

Colleges struggle to produce enough merchant seamen to meet demand, even though more graduates with non-maritime degrees are opting for a life at sea

According to Li Enhong, director of merchant seamen management at the Ministry of Transport, colleges are able to produce only a few thousand merchant sailors every year, far short of what is needed.

More than 10,000 graduates who studied non-maritime majors have joined the merchant fleet since 2006, thanks to training offered as part of a government program to support the shipping industry.

"We realize the serious problems caused by the shortage of seamen, and it may restrain trade," Li told China Daily. "It takes just months to build a large boat, but at least four to five years to train a qualified seaman to operate it."

China's trade has been developing rapidly since entry into the World Trade Organization, and this requires an increasing number of merchant seamen. Foreign trade passed $3.6 trillion last year, an increase of 22.5 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs.

To meet demand, the program encouraged maritime colleges to enroll graduates with non-maritime backgrounds and train them for a year.

"Previously, only graduates with science backgrounds were allowed to enroll for training, as their courses were similar to those of maritime majors," said Chen Fuhan, deputy dean of Dalian Maritime University's school of navigation, in Northeast China's Liaoning province. "Now we can enroll students majoring in liberal arts, such as English and law majors."