RECRUITMENT and the retention of talent are rising rapidly up the ranking of corporate concerns in maritime.

While at one level, finding the right person with the right skills at the right price is a little harder than it was before the pandemic, at another level the twin issues are a significant challenge for the industry.

Don’t take my word for it. The Global Maritime Forum’s maritime issues monitor made unsettling reading for any human resources managers.

In terms of how prepared the maritime industry is to tackle a range of issues, “workforce and skill shortage” was elevated from a mid-table position of 10th last year to fourth now, behind the mega issues of climate change and shortfall of infrastructure.

In terms of the impact a skills shortage will make on the industry, maritime leaders put it behind only decarbonisation, environmental regulation, and geopolitical tension.

As a concern, it comes ahead of societal demands for sustainability and leaves lack of access to finance way behind.

Not getting the right talent in place should be keeping chief executives awake at night around the world.

This is not a new issue.

When I attended Danish Maritime Days — an earlier iteration of Global Maritime Forum — a key concern was how to raise the profile of the industry, with a view to encouraging seafarers to go to sea and shorefarers to invest their time and energy in vessel operations.

Many excellent suggestions were made at that gathering, which now look a bit dated, but the pandemic has accelerated the search for an answer.

New graduates with data analytical skills and technicians in the world of AI, VR, and IOT all look for inspiring and fulfilling positions. However, they are not wanting to be tied into corporate life or committing to anything beyond three years.

That’s the challenge for the maritime industry.

Workforce issues go to the very heart of shipping’s business model. Most employees who have built a career with your company will stay if the incentives are reasonable because change brings difficulties of its own. But employees in their first or second year begin to look at opportunities elsewhere.

Matthieu de Tugny, head of Bureau Veritas Maritime & Offshore, summed up the situation exactly last week: “We must adapt our organisation to the expectations of the new generation. It’s not up to them to adapt themselves.”

He put training and career development at the top of his list.

For Bureau Veritas, there is a possible solution. Besides maritime and offshore, the French class society also covers energy, industry, infrastructure, consumer products, cybersecurity, and hospitality.

Employees wanting to develop their skills in a new direction can be offered further training or they can be introduced to a different sector within the business where they can grow.

In time, they might bring their expanded skillset back into maritime. That will be much harder to do for a small company with no opportunities for training or career advancement.

The energy transition is not only happening in shipping: other sectors are going through a similar transformation. For some skills, a ship is no different to a power station, a large office building or hotel, or an electric vehicle manufacturing plant.

In essence, adds Mr de Tugny, the solution lies not in better recruitment or in keener retention. It rests in understanding the corporate vision — protecting the environment rather than running ships — and in knowledge management.

Many of the issues picked up by the GMF’s issues monitor represent immediate responses to crises such as war, famine, hunger, and cyber attacks. But beneath the surface, the global shortage of skills will inevitably mean shipping competing with energy, industry, and agriculture.

In such a competition, decarbonisation must be a friend for maritime not its rival. If the industry fails to walk the walk on protecting the environment, we should expect the next generation to walk away.