Transformations and continuities of issues related to Chinese participation in the global seafarers’ labour market

Since the 1990s, Chinese seafarers have become a force to be reckoned with in the global seafarer labour market, particularly against the backdrop of the manning crisis. Compared with other groups of seafarers dominating the market such as the Filipinos and the Indians, they are commonly associated with perceptions of low cost, poor English skills, different safety/work culture, problems with the International Transport Workers’ Federation, etc. This article identifies transformations and continuities of problems related to Chinese seafarers in the global market in the last two decades or so by reviewing relevant Lloyd’s List reports as well as official documents and previous research. The review shows that Chinese authorities have been taking various initiatives to take advantage of the manning crisis and to expand and promote seafarer education, supply and export, which in general serve to make seafarers better educated and improve their communication skills. Although such initiatives have helped increase seafaring labour export, the success is nevertheless limited by tight government control on recruitment, which makes some foreign managers reluctant to employ Chinese seafarers.     

船员管理信息系统的构想

探讨了构建船员管理信息系统,依托信息技术对船员实行有效的动态管理。在系统开发、用户访问和安全设计等主要方面初步论证了管理信息系统的技术可行性。研究表明,应用网络的开放性和交互性,能够充分发挥网络联系政府、船公司、船员的实效,在船公司与船员之间以及政府管理机关与船员之间建立一种新型的服务平台,在全国范围建立快速的、优良的船员管理信息系统,从而进一步提升我国航运服务业的国际竞争力。     

未满200总吨小型海船最低安全配员证书核发工作探析

合理的船员配备能够有效的保证船舶及船上人员的安全,还能保护船员得到充足的休息。随着社会发展,小型海船的情况越来越复杂,更因为营运成本、沿海船员紧缺等因素的限制,小型海船船东对最低安全配员的减配要求尤其突出。文中梳理了未满200总吨小型海船最低安全配员证书核发工作中遇到的问题,提出了相关的对策建议。     

国际船员劳务市场及中国船员劳务外派

通过对国际船员劳务市场、船员资源结构、船员工资标准、船员合同期限等要素的分析,可以看出开发中国远洋船员劳务外派产业的机遇与挑战并存。呼吁中国政府和从业机构及时把握机遇,减少制约船员劳务外派产业发展的政策瓶颈,进一步加大船员外派的开放力度,加大国有企业的改革力度,引入更多的境外船东和船舶管理公司,提高中国船员劳务外派在国际市场中的比重。     

市场经济的产物——专业船员公司

计划经济时期的船员管理体制已不能适应我国现今市场经济时代和国际航运市场的发展。专业化船员公司是我国航运企业生存和发展的必然产物。把船员作为一种人力资源,传统的航运企业应该通过船员体制改革,达到从拥有船员资源到控制船员资源的转变,盘活船员资源,让它在船员劳务市场中健康发展。     

Dealing with multicultural human resources in a socially responsible manner: a focus on the maritime industry

Shipping companies’ crucial need for cost cutting is their main motive for recruiting seafarers of various nationalities and formulating multicultural teams on board ships. This paper seeks to examine ways of dealing with cultural issues by being a socially responsible company. The main point of the research is to examine how managing multicultural crews is related to the shipping companies’ and the industry’s social responsibility. An extensive literature review on the cultural issues of maritime manpower, with a focus on the working and living conditions and the management of shipping crews, reveals important aspects of the subject. This analysis is enriched with qualitative data from an on-board case study, and from a survey among crew managers and manning agents. Results show that managing multicultural human resources in a socially responsible manner requires socially acceptable behaviour towards seagoing labour from all the industrial actors.     

The reform of Chinese state-owned ship crewing agencies and implications for China’s seafaring labour export

ABSTRACT

With the economic reform in China, the international shipping industry and some academics anticipated, as early as the 1990s, that Chinese seafarers would flood the world’s seafaring labour market. However, China’s seafarer export has been far lower than these expectations. This article seeks to explain this lack of development through research into the management strategies of two major ship crewing agencies in China, which have been reformed to different degrees, and the experience of the seafarers who work for them. To examine this question, 86 interviews of managers and seafarers were conducted in two Chinese state-owned crewing agencies (SCAs) between 2008 and 2013. The studies demonstrate that despite the economic reform in China, the SCAs were still supported and constrained by institutions at higher levels, instead of becoming independent, market-oriented economic entities, which constrained the development of foreign manning business. This partly explains the limited rate of increase of China’s seafarer export.     

Sea-going labour and Greek owned fleet: a major aspect of fleet competitiveness

This analysis aims to examine the current picture of maritime manpower in the Greek registered and owned fleet, as it has been formed during the post-war years. This objective entails the analysis of the current supply and demand for seafarers, the estimation of any shortfalls and their confrontation. Moreover, this study further investigates the contributory factors of the present employment trends, which simultaneously constitute special problems of the sea manpower of the Greek owned fleet and attempt some recommendations. In the context of the above mentioned objective, this analysis emphasizes issues such as recruitment, marine education and wastage. Furthermore, special consideration is given to the significance of labour costs for the development of the Greek owned fleet, particularly to subjects such as the various ways of reducing manning costs and their repercussions on the employment of Greek seamen. Finally, this analysis examines the trends of the state shipping policy concerning labour issues and proceeds to some recommendations.     

Sea-going labour and Greek owned fleet: a major aspect of fleet competitiveness

This analysis aims to examine the current picture of maritime manpower in the Greek registered and owned fleet, as it has been formed during the post-war years. This objective entails the analysis of the current supply and demand for seafarers, the estimation of any shortfalls and their confrontation. Moreover, this study further investigates the contributory factors of the present employment trends, which simultaneously constitute special problems of the sea manpower of the Greek owned fleet and attempt some recommendations. In the context of the above mentioned objective, this analysis emphasizes issues such as recruitment, marine education and wastage. Furthermore, special consideration is given to the significance of labour costs for the development of the Greek owned fleet, particularly to subjects such as the various ways of reducing manning costs and their repercussions on the employment of Greek seamen. Finally, this analysis examines the trends of the state shipping policy concerning labour issues and proceeds to some recommendations.     

Managing culturally diverse maritime human resources as a shipping company’s core competency

ABSTRACT

The last few years a great body of research focused on the problems observed in the shipping industry due to the mix of different nationalities on board. Herein, the problem is observed in the managerial level, and specifically to the applied crew management strategies and the philosophy of the shipping companies regarding the issue of multiculturalism. The present paper seeks to elevate the value of human resources in shipping and to underline the potentials that human resource management and cultural diversity management have as a shipping company’s core competency. In a triangulated theoretical framework, the combination of resource-based view, human resource management, and cultural diversity management leads to a framework of choices which include strategies for the management of maritime human resources’ cultural diversity. The paper analyses the practical application of the proposed strategies and the fulfilment of the criteria required for turning crew management to a core competency and gaining sustainable competitive advantage from human resources.     

中国海员外派公司如何应对2006国际海事劳工公约

通过对2006国际海事劳工公约的研究,结合中国海员外派出现的问题,明确中国海员外派公司的工作任务,对中国海员外派公司日常管理体系的改善提出几点可行措施,最后针对2006国际海事劳工公约,对相关管理机构提出几点建议。     

The choices of employing seafarers for the national shipowners in Taiwan: an empirical study

This paper focuses on the binary choice behavior of employing seafarers for the Taiwanese' national shipowners and embraces the empirical investigation based on the Binary Logit Model. First, three groups of important factors have been identified having a bearing on the national shipowners' hiring preferences: crew cost, competence and efficiency (including knowledge, skills, communication, physical and psychological attitude and conditions), as well as quality standard system complying with STCW95. Then, an empirical analysis, based on a Binary Logit Model about the national shipowners' choosing seafarers, is conducted to demonstrate the conceptual framework developed in this paper. The results show that the hiring decision is significantly affected by the crew cost. The national shipowners also consider several other factors when hiring officers and ratings. In addition, there are significant differences in hiring preference between the sailing international services and operating the liner ships. In the future, when the Measure shall be amended, the national shipowners will change their behavior to re-choose the foreign seafarers.     

Code of behaviour at sea: women seafarers’ shipboard identity management

The employment of women on cargo ships, particularly at officer’s level, is paid more attention in order to supplement the shortage of qualified officers. However, seafaring jobs are still overwhelmingly dominated by men, and there seems to be gender-related challenges for women in such work environment. Women seafarers in this research are those who work in the ship operational sections on cargo ships as deck officers, engineers or radio officers. A total of 36 female and 8 male seafarers from eight different countries participated in the project and shared their experiences of working on board ships. The research revealed that the occupational culture of seafaring often reflects masculine norms and values which could affect women seafarers’ behaviour and attitudes. This paper further explores how women manage such situations on board by utilising various strategies in order to avoid gender-related problems. This study identifies a typical pattern of women seafarers’ identity management and creates a model of women’s strategic shifting patterns over time.     

Selective replacement of national by non-national seafarers in OECD countries and the employment function in the maritime sector

Commonly, in the shipping industry of the developed Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, national seafarers are progressively being replaced by non-national ones. The present paper aims to provide a model for this tendency. Our analysis is based on the assumption that when shipowners are called to make decisions concerning crew characteristics (such as crew composition and employment levels), they address themselves to two distinct seafarer markets: the domestic (seafarers from OECD countries, henceforth to be referred to as ‘national’) and the non-national (seafarers from other countries). Whilst workers of the first market are better examples in the field of ‘on-the-job-performance’ (in terms of efficiency and loyalty) than workers of the second, shipowners set their domestic employment rule with the view to maximize their profits facing wages and ‘on-the-job-performance’ from national and non-national seafarers alike. Thus, national seafarers are chiefly recruited as officers and the employment level of non-national seafarers are residual, formed thereafter. Our findings point out that the employment rule concerning nationals is negatively affected by the former's wages, and positively by the wage increases of non-national seafarers and by eventual increases of the differential between the ‘on the job performance’ of nationals and that of non-national seafarers of corresponding specialisation.     

论船员心理素质对船舶安全的影响

船员的应急反应能力是保障海上人命与财产安全的最后一道"防线",也是目前中国船员培训中比较薄弱的环节,航运公司和海事主管机关应建立现代安全管理机制和培训评估体系,给船员创造一个良好的安全工作环境,不断提高船员的综合素质。     

Determinants of Indian sub-continent officer–seafarer retention in the shipping industry

The retention of officer–seafarers within the international shipping industry is a difficult problem facing shipping and ship management companies. One strategic option open to all companies that should improve overall retention is to seek to become an employer of choice by providing an intellectual capital environment attractive to officer–seafarers. This is investigated through a survey of officer–seafarers covering areas where ship management can exercise some control over their working conditions. These cover recognition by their employer and commensurate rewards, organizational culture and structure and building relationships with external parties. Experienced Indian sub-continent officer–seafarers were the sample population resulting in more than 200 valid completions. These were analysed using correlation and regression. Although all hypotheses were in the predicted direction, only four passed the significance test: long-term career prospects, a smooth and fair recruitment process, a better relationship with maritime authorities and an employee-friendly organizational culture. Stepwise regression indicated that only organizational culture had a significant positive effect on intention to remain a seafarer. The items in the organizational culture construct accord with recommendations from the literature on becoming an employer of choice and improving employee retention, providing guidance for attracting and retaining officers.     

Emerging organizational values in shipping: Part 1. Crew stability

In this paper, Smith and Roggema examine the solutions emerging in answer to the growing concern in North European shipping companies to adapt to increasing competition and technological diversity and also to attract and retain suitably qualified seafarers. Part 1 describes a move from a situation of lack of stability of crew towards greater crew stability, whilst Part 2 discusses the redistribution of responsibility on board ship, encompassing a change from the caste-like division between officers and ratings and a more flexible division of functions and authority.     

驾驶员进行轮机模拟器培训的可行性分析

通过对我国船员知识结构和航运市场对船员的素质要求进行分析,认为驾驶员进行轮机模拟器培训,对提高自动化和轮机管理水平是非常有必要的,也是可行的。     

谈船员管理中的心理情感效应

文中对船员的心理情感进行了初步分析,提出了船员服务提供者与船员交流时需注意的几个方面,倡导建立人性化的公司与船员的和谐关系。     

谈高级值班水手和值班机工职位对我国海员外派的影响及建议

文中介绍高级值班水手和高级值班机工的产生背景,分析高级值班水手和高级值班机工发展现状及趋势,针对部分船旗国对高级值班水手和高级机工配员要求的变化,阐述对海员外派机构所产生的影响,并提出应对措施的建议。