Evaldas Zacharevičius, Saulius Šiaučiūnas, Mindaugas Česnauskis

Evaldas Zacharevičius, Saulius Šiaučiūnas, Mindaugas Česnauskis

Attractive profession of seafarer – factor governing successful activity of Marine Administration. View from the perspective of Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration

Introduction

Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration is a comparatively new institution, which, together with the Ministry of Transport of the Lithuanian Republic, has been successfully fulfilling the functions of National Maritime Administration for six years. The Administration does not perform only strategic purposes through participation in national and international shipping policy-making. Its activity is extended, new strategic goals are put forward each year. It is pleasant that our efforts are crowned with the achieved results confirming the Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration competence, and our specialists’ performance quality. On June 1, 2006, we became a full member of Paris Memorandum MoU. This is one of the goals we have been straining after for a long time and one of the most significant events in Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration. However, many designed but not yet obtained goals remain – to be included in Paris MoU white list, to participate in the IMO voluntary audit scheme. Based on our experience, the successful Maritime Administration activity is closely connected with:

1. competent seafarers working on board ships flying the national flag;

2. competent seafarers working in the Maritime Administration.

Further we will try to illustrate this statement by particular examples.

Current situation review

It is well known that the risk of ship accidents depends on the competence and training of a ship crew. Besides, very often ship detentions depend also on crew professionalism: as evidenced from the statistical data of Lithuanian ship detentions in foreign ports, the major part of detentions in foreign ports is caused by the crew. For example, the defining role of the crew in the detentions of Lithuanian ships in foreign ports in 2007 was established in 33% of cases, in 2006 - in 50%, in 2005 – in 38%. In other words, qualified crew may have significant influence on the detention statistics of ships flying the national flag in foreign ports and even determine the flag position in the classification of the regional Port State Control Memoranda.

It should be noted that the competence of the Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration employees has also an influence on ship detention in foreign ports. Since its establishment, Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration actively has actively employed new staff (surveyors) responsible for reduction of ship detentions in foreign ports. At the moment, 10 surveyors are responsible for the control of state flag and foreign flag ships, 6 of them have been already employed after 2002, when Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration was established and after it has taken over the control functions of state and foreign flag from the port captain. Such policy for new personnel employment would not possible to the Administration unless there were no well-trained and skilled seafarers in Lithuania. Performance of the active policy for new personnel employment was complicated due to the fact that all the former seafarers being employed by the Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration had to have higher university education according to the laws being in force in Lithuania. But the efforts were not fruitless. The analysis of performance of the Administration which has been already fulfilling its functions and striving for strategic goals for six years allowed to conclude that only qualified and experienced seafarers working for the Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration are a considerable support for an effective cooperation with shipowners, classification societies, Port State Authorities of other countries. It was noted that such professional cooperation permits all the participating parties (Maritime Administration, shipowners, ship crews) to consider more carefully the potential causes which may determine ship detentions and timely prevent detentions, speaking both about particular ships and also regarding the general policy for reduction of the detention number. The problem of qualified and well-trained seafarers still remains urgent today in Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration taking into account its future participation in the IMO voluntary audit scheme, as well as approaching chairmanship of Lithuania in the European Union in 2013.

Sufficient number of competent seafarers may be trained in case this profession is attractive for young people. The young people choose this career when, both at sea and ashore, they see clear career perspectives. That is why the successful activity of Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration, especially succeeding in the long-term strategic goals, is the things, that, inter alia, determine also the attractiveness of the seafaring career in the particular maritime state.

The need for skilled seafarers will not be reduced in distant future. That is why it is worth asking oneself whether the seafaring career now is attractive enough for the most talented people to strive for. Will the Administration be able to choose when forming the qualified personnel in future?

In order to answer these questions we are going to make use of the research data obtained this year by the scientists of the Lithuanian Maritime Board "Research of the actual membership of seafarers and preparing recommendations due to changes at the market of marine transport". The investigation shows that the most important factors for choosing the seafaring career are that one may earn well; the school-leavers receive higher education after school, there are clear career possibilities; having the seafarer speciality you may work both at sea and ashore. However, according to the authors of the Research, despite the positive features, a tendency is noted for decreasing of interest to the seafaring career, changing of people priorities and inability of the shipping sector to compete with other sectors of industry where more attractive conditions of labor, salary, career possibility are offered despite the lack of specialists at the fleet.

Speaking about further perspective, we are to mention, first of all, the birth rate decreasing in Lithuania. In 2016 - 2018, there will be more vacant places for entrees the high schools of Lithuania than school leavers. If no measures are taken, there will be a competition only for the most prestigious and popular specialities (law, economics, management, etc.) among which the seafaring career is prevailing, at least at present. Besides, as predicted by the research, by 2023 the number of navigators in Lithuania will be reduced by 30% and of ship engineers – by 45%. As we see, if current situation may be considered as a satisfactory one, t the future perspectives are not joyful, if no measures are taken. They would not be so joyful for Lithuanian ship owners, though they may partially compensate the lack of personnel by employing foreign seafarers. Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration will face much more complicated problems. Though the need for seafarers in the Administration is not high – during the year the Administration takes on 1-2 seafarers having a maritime certificate (navigator or engineer), but there are some important factors restricting employing (giving an employment) to the major part of the potential contingent of seafarers. One of these factors was already mentioned– the seafarers being employed by Administration are to have higher university education, otherwise the state cannot provide them with favorable social insurance arrangements and salary applicable to state employees. Here the attention is to be paid to the fact that the major part of seafarers trained by the Lithuanian Maritime College, though being a higher school, does not grant the university education. Another obstacle is that the Administration has limited possibilities for paying competitive salary to former seafarers. Administration belongs to the group of budget institutions where certain restrictions are applied to the salary of its employees. Unfortunately, these restrictions, for the present, do not enable to pay a competitive salary to young and perspective masters and chief engineers having a wish to get employed by the Administration.

What is done or to be done in Lithuania to improve the attractiveness of the seafaring career

Improvement of the seafaring career is important not only for the Administration. This is an urgent question for the entire maritime sector operating in Lithuania - shipowners, cargo-carrying companies, shore enterprises. Therefore, the state institutions have taken various measures to solve this problem. In 2002 the Development Strategy of the Lithuanian shipping sector was approved where, in addition to other measures, the provision was made for promoting the initiatives encouraging the young people in Lithuania to choose maritime specialities. As one of the measures, supporting the implementation of the above strategy, on the initiative of the Ministry of Communications, research was carried out by the Belgian company "Policy Research Corporation", where the proposals were stated regarding the measures to enlarge the shipping sector of Lithuania. It should be noted that the major part of the proposals includes various tax measures (tax concessions) to shipping sector and seafarers also. Implementing the provisions of the Development Strategy of the Lithuanian shipping sector and the recommendations of the above study, several laws were approved by the Parliament of Lithuania making the tax treatment more favorable for shipping industry including seafarers working aboard sea-going ships.

However, to view the current situation and the existing plans in a sober light and based on the information presented in various scientific studies, it should be stated that more attention could be given to the popularization of the seafaring career in Lithuania. Due to the fact that the matter is of concern for many institutions – shipping companies, organizations engaged in seafarer job placement, shore companies and, of course, state institutions conducting public management in shipping, we hope that all the interested parties will gather in the near future, and additional long-term measures will be taken for improving the seafaring career.

Conclusions

1. There are two factors having profound effect on the implementation of strategic goals of the National Maritime Administration: competent crews of Lithuanian ships and competent employees of the Administration.

2. Despite the fact that the seafaring career may be considered attractive in Lithuania recently, a tendency for reducing the interest to the seafaring profession is noted. It should be stated that such a tendency may be exhibited to an increasing extent.

3. In order to increase the attractiveness of the seafaring career, various direct and indirect measures – tax concessions to seafarers are applicable in Lithuania, the conditions for shipping business development are improved. However, the analysis shows that more attention could be given to the seafaring career popularization in Lithuania.

4. Favorable conditions for young people to choose the seafaring career for the most part determine the successful work of the National Maritime Administration. Therefore, when such conditions are created by the Administration employees, this is important for its own successful activity, and improvement of the seafaring career attractiveness may claim to be a strategic goal of any National Maritime Administration.