Image via Flickr user OneEighteen Photostream

While searching the web, I came across an article in the Chicago Tribune titled “Shipping Industry Runs Short of Mariners.”  Here is a brief introduction:

Long a symbol of romance and adventure, the seafaring life is attracting fewer young adults these days, creating a worsening personnel shortage for those hauling cargo across oceans and the Great Lakes.

Some shipping companies have told the U.S. Maritime Administration that the problem has forced them to dock or even sell vessels. Others said it has kept them from expanding fleets, or caused delayed voyages and lost contracts.

A cross-section of the maritime industry has been affected to varying degrees, from oil tankers and bulk cargo haulers to tugs, barges and ferries.

“It’s not limited to any region or any nation. It is a global challenge,” Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton said. READ FULL ARTICLE

The author points to a number of factors contributing to this problem including tougher liscensing and training requirements, greater safety standards, technology that is increasing efficiency, but mainly, an aging workforce with less and less allure for young mariners entering the industry.

Ok enough from the article.  What we are interested in is what you, our readers and mariners, think of this mariner shortage and how it has effected you.  Be sure to let us know in the comments…

Here is a poll that we posted a while back to get things going:

They write:

In 2007, total world oil production amounted to approximately 85 million barrels per day (bbl/d), and around one-half, or over 43 million bbl/d of oil was moved by tankers on fixed maritime routes. The international energy market is dependent upon reliable transport. The blockage of a chokepoint, even temporarily, can lead to substantial increases in total energy costs. In addition, chokepoints leave oil tankers vulnerable to theft from pirates, terrorist attacks, and political unrest in the form of wars or hostilities and shipping accidents which can lead to disastrous oil spills.

In case that’s not enough to sustain high oil prices Fred Fry points us to this ABC nightline story on the world mariner shortage, a problem we at gCaptain can testify as real and already creating problems. They write:

The Warsash Maritime Academy trains 200 pilots and skippers a year to man an ever-expanding global fleet of super tankers.

They’ll take the helm of some of the 6,000 new oil tankers and container ships will hit the water in the next five years. Why so many? Because of our continued reliance on oil, China’s manufacturing boom and because, well, no one has come up with a better idea.

“It takes a long, long time to train somebody to be in charge of it,” said Sadler. Shipping is booming, ships are getting bigger and harder to handle, and there aren’t enough men and women to take charge of the ships.

“There is now a gap in qualified personnel,” Sadler said.

Continue Reading…

Both these articles lead to one question: Could a ship with crew lacking experience shut down a harbor, or worse a choke point?