Sailor Today - Singh Marine … · Dr. Binay Singh, Singh Marine Management Ltd., Odessa, Ukraine...
Transcript of Sailor Today - Singh Marine … · Dr. Binay Singh, Singh Marine Management Ltd., Odessa, Ukraine...
MEETING THE CHALLENGES - FATHER SON DUOMEETING THE CHALLENGES - FATHER SON DUO
Sailor TodayDecember 2016
Distributed in India | U.S.A. | U.K. | Hongkong | Singapore | Dubai | Bangladesh | Sri Lanka | Thailand | RNI 53380/91 | PRICE `50/-
DRACEA FELICITATES ARI MTM - WORKING TOWARDS EXCELLENCEMTM - WORKING TOWARDS EXCELLENCE
Sailor Today | YOUR LINK ASHORE WHILE AT SEA | www.sailortoday.net | December 2016 11
The shipping industry is
going through some
unprecedented trying
phase. All elements of shipping
be it ownership, chartering, ship
management or manning is
being tested. Companies that
were considered solid, yards that
had three years wait for new
building order intake, owners
who took some of the biggest
bets in shipping, all are skeptical
and waiting for an upward trend.
Our manning business is no
exception to that. Reduction in
tonnage, lay-up of ships, record
low price of oil, and even lower
commodity movement has
further acerbated the prospects
of seafarers from all countries.
Therefore, in September
2016 I decided to visit Hong
Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and
Singapore and meet our existing
as well as prospective customers
to understand what lay ahead for
all of us. These three cities are
the three biggest shipping hub
cities in Asia and I was confident
that I would get some guidance
on how the business will pan out
in coming years. Among shipping
companies that I visited in Hong
Kong represents mostly Dry-
Cargo ships owners and ship
mangers. On the other hand in
Kuala Lumpur my focus has been
mostly LNG and Chemical
Dr. Binay Singh, Singh Marine Management Ltd., Odessa, Ukraine
My South East Asia Visit
Sailor Today | YOUR LINK ASHORE WHILE AT SEA | www.sailortoday.net | December 201612
Tototheo Group specializes in innovative, efficient and functional solutions in the fields of satellite and radio communication, automation, navigation systems and Ship repairs. Headquarters are in Cyprus with branch offices in Greece and Singapore. The company supplies, services, integrates and installs high-quality sophisticated on-board electronic equipment.
Tankers. Singapore for our
company represents the most
diverse ship base, starting from
LNG to tankers and from dry
cargo to offshore vessels.
Predominantly the ship
managers and ship owners in the
cities I visited employ Indian,
Chinese, Filipino and FSU
seafarers. You also see pockets
of the seafarers that tend to
have niche presence from
countries like Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
Naturally, purpose of my visit
was to meet my existing
customers and to see how we
can support them in their
emerging manning needs.
Further, to know the real
situations in their business so
that we can add value in their
operations by providing them
Ukrainian seafarers when they
need.
One thing that you realize
very quickly when you meet
some of the biggest employers of
seafarers is that the market
reality is not as bad as we
perceive from our hometown
Odessa. The reality is that there
is a perpetual shortage of good
and qualified officers almost in
all companies. Further, the
traditional strongest manning
sources represent a big
challenge in ensuring quality and
attitude of seafarers – be it
India, China, Philippines or
Ukraine. So there will remain a
need for independent manning
companies such as ours to
bridge the gap in high quality
ship owners and mangers
manning pool. Of course the gap
in dry vessels pool is less than
that for tankers. Especially for
chemical tankers the gaps in
supply and demand of high
quality seafarers--especially
senior officers--are very much.
But even in dry vessels, reefer
vessels and large container
carriers have similar challenges.
Coming from India, being an
India it was also a bit
uncomfortable to hear from most
of the companies I visited that
Indian seafarers are losing their
lead in manning the world fleet
and not because of competence
but more due to attitude and
cost competitiveness especially
in today’s market conditions.
As a broader trend in the
market I also felt that larger
companies--companies that are
managing vessels in excess of
100 vessels--are fine and do not
feel the heat of market slow
down as much as smaller
company with 20-30 ships.
These smaller companies and
owners are feeling the crisis
more severely and have to do a
lot of adjustments in operating
their ships to have cost effective
operations. Manning remains
their biggest concern. There was
another noticeable trend -
several new companies have
come that have started
operations in last 2-3 years. It
seems they are able to survive,
thanks to their lean structure,
manning flexibility and strong
relationships with their owners.
For companies having more
than 100 vessels in their
management, I felt that they are
quite selective in what ships they
operate, from where they
operate, and if they are ship
manager what type of owners
they want to work with. They are
happy to manage those ships
that enhance their portfolio in
this difficult market. They are
also selective in their crew pool
choice and a bit constrained by
their commitment to their own
traditional crew sources and
crew pool. But managers and
ship owners with tanker fleet,
especially chemical tankers are
facing the shortage of officers as
well as ratings and requirements
is very high for such specialized
vessels. Some of the push is also
coming from the oil majors’
Sailor Today | YOUR LINK ASHORE WHILE AT SEA | www.sailortoday.net | December 2016 13
stringent experience matrix
demands. Some of the other
concerns that I could feel were
high wages demands from
ratings as well and language
competence making some
sources of seafarers less
attractive.
However, the offshore market
is going through unprecedented
tough times. Need for new
sources of manning are limited,
if not non-existent and they are
somehow trying to retain their
own pool. This is one of the
reasons, we see in Odessa, that
due to such a poor demand
scenario almost all officers and
ratings who have had solid
experience in offshore sector are
willing to join non offshore
vessels, be it dry or wet fleet at
much lower wages.
Market has also become
more seafarer friendly over the
years. Ships owners and
mangers that provide seafarers
various benefits and perks seem
to have higher retention. But the
higher wage remains the primary
attraction of seafarers
irrespective of the country of
origin of officers as well ratings.
Almost all owners and ship
mangers invite officers for
seminars and fleet officers’
conference (even some times
abroad). Many of the companies
have resorted to paying contract
completion bonus, re-joining
bonus, and family insurance over
the years. It is natural that the
companies that look after
seafarers’ social affairs, their
retention rate is in the region of
80 – 90 % and majority of
seafarers would like to join such
a company rather than a
company who only pays wages.
But given the market conditions,
shrinking of global tonnage and
complete lack of demand in
certain sectors such as offshore
and resultant conversion of those
officers, is putting a tremendous
pressure on such perks and
benefits. It seems the newly
emerging smaller owners and
managers are able to avoid these
payouts for sake of gaining
market share and
competitiveness. The question
that the robust and larger
players are faced with is –
should they continue to provide
seafarers more social welfare in
addition to wages to have
excellent retention ratio and not
feel lack of officers or do they
need to look at alternatives.
Should they continue to recruit
cadets to have fresh blood in
order to grow and build up good
pool of seafarers or wait for
market to recover? Of course, as
a manning company we would
like to have more and more
cadets and in the long run it
pays itself multiple folds. But
also, it is understandable that
the commercially imperatives of
today’s market reality does not
provide for such foresight for
most of the players, large or
small.
One thing that is always
striking in Asia- warm, open
hearted and excellent hospitality
of the colleagues in shipping
companies, as such, I am very
thankful and indebted to all our
clients for the great hospitality.
Here’s wishing all my
Principals and potential Partners
best of luck and full steam
ahead.
Videotel produces the highest quality e-Learning training materials and management software for all commercial maritime sectors, ports and terminals, offshore and more.