Seatrade Cruise Asia opens with deep dive into intricacies of crewing

Seatrade Cruise Asia in Manila, the Philippines kicked off this morning with panel discussions delving into the complexities of crewing and the importance of investing in people, providing appropriate training to ensure crew have the right skills and are motivated to continue their learning journey.

The crewing landscape 

‘Crew Connect Global X Seatrade Cruise - Navigating Talent Acquisition and Training in the Growing Cruise Industry’ kicked off Seatrade Cruise Asia on November 12. 

Cherece Vina, AVP talent acquisition, Royal Caribbean Group said the company is ‘expecting a tremendous amount of growth’ so the amount of talent it is looking to acquire is ‘in the thousands’ over the next five years, while Eric Visser, senior director maritime operations and people, Holland America Line said the company is seeking 10,000 people in the next five-10 years. Meanwhile, ‘the [Indian] government is trying to bring a lot of cruise vessels to India,’ explained capt. Sanjay Kushwaha, GM, Bernhard Schulte Cruise Services – India. There are 90,000 people from India working on cruise ships, with the government aiming to increase this by 20% by creating more institutes and colleges, the captain noted.  

When it comes to sourcing cruise crew, ‘The Philippines and Indonesia are our main market’ said Visser, noting the ‘whole infrastructure is present’ from training centres to flag state approvals, and more. 

Related:President of the Philippines attends Seatrade Cruise Asia Welcome Reception

India and Indonesia have been the focus when it comes to recruitment of crew in APAC, asserted Vina, but ‘quite a bit of talent’ comes from Thailand, Vietnam and South Africa. Overall, ‘Asia will continue to be a good source’ of talent, summarised Katherine Avelino, executive director business development, shipping/ SVP cruise operations, Philippine Transmarine Carriers, noting that a lack of opportunities domestically creates the conditions for people in the region to seek jobs in cruise and cargo shipping, and within other countries. 

Bottlenecks 

But there are several obstacles when it comes to acquiring crew members for cruise ships. Land-based jobs can be started quickly and offer ‘flexibility,’ whereas the process for joining a cruise ship can take months. For those focused on mental wellness and a work-life balance, ‘cruise jobs are not for them,’ said Avelino. ‘Long hours, away from your families, may not be attractive…’ she remarked. 

Michael Wiesner, director of training, Oceanic Hospitality Training Centre explained that low-skilled jobs may be filled easily, but the matter ‘becomes more difficult’ when it comes to seeking a chef de partie, sous chefs and pastry chefs. It is important to focus both on career development ‘so we make our own people’ and ‘to try to influence the syllabus of the local universities,’ attracting people to enter the industry,’ he said.  

‘Mentorship and development of individuals’ is key, agreed Vina. She said ‘younger generations are looking for faster progression’ and a readjustment is necessary to take into account the increasing importance of artificial intelligence, digitisation – and how the industry has changed since 20 years ago. In an era of TikTok, ‘bite sized learning’ is the optimum way for younger generations to absorb new information. 

Mentoring 

From AI to decarbonation to new propulsion systems, crew training has been ‘underfunded and not really received the attention’ it deserves, said Visser, with the industry ‘not keeping up with education systems around the globe.’ 

Jason Gelineau, director of JAG Hospitality and Guest Experience Ambassador for Seatrade Cruise, spoke from the audience to say that a mentoring programme is needed ‘to support staff and offer clear guidance.’ He explained that crew, once promoted, are ‘left to their own devices… but repeat the same bad behaviours’ as their predecessors owing to a lack of training and support. 

Vina said it is important to work with schools and training programmes. ‘There’s a disconnect in some of these schools,’ she said, with the education ‘too generalised,’ noting a need to translate the information into something meaningful for the student that will go towards helping their future.  

Wiesner was in agreement that ‘some fundamentals are missing and this is something we can address during training.’ 

Long-term retention 

The panel ‘Investing in People: Key to Long-term Crew Retention’ followed. 

Dr. Michela Terrei, organisational and job psychologist & PhD Research, IMA Assessment and Training Center & University of Chieti described the pre-assessment of crew members as essential. 'Only now is the industry starting to understand the impact of wellbeing on crew,’ she said, advising assessment of a potential crew member’s mental health before they go to sea to determine if they are ready to pursue a career in the field, therefore lowering the risk of a crew member leaving their position after their first contract. 

Anthony Kaufman, head of commercial strategies, Mitsui Ocean Cruises said the cruise industry is ‘behind the times’ when it comes to crew. He challenged the audience to identify cruise lines’ most important asset, emphasising that while the answer is crew, there is huge dedication to maintaining the health of vessels – dry docking, for instance – without equal attention paid to the wellbeing of crew.  

Artur Pankowski, consultant, crew strategy at MSC Cruises said there are ‘multiple elements’ when it comes to long-term crew retention but the line is doing well in retaining its crew. According to Orel Federman, CEO, Nautical Miles Club, it is important to hear from the crew members directly on what they require. The company hosts the world's leading lifestyle platform for seafarers to save crew time and money by establishing an ecosystem between crew and elements shoreside.

Optimising travel 

The isolation of being at sea for long periods of time in addition to geopolitical uncertainties lowers morale, said Bhavna Pant, director client success management - Asia, ATPI. Optimising travel, with perks such as pre-booked transfers, fast-track security and priority boarding, means ‘crew can focus on their important tasks on board.’  

Co-located with Seatrade Maritime Crew Connect Global

The sessions were made possible through the partnership between Seatrade Cruise and Seatrade Maritime. Seatrade Maritime Crew Connect Global is co-located with Seatrade Cruise Asia at Shangri-La The Fort, Manila. 

Chris Morley, group director of Seatrade Maritime, said it is ‘a great pleasure to have two parts of the same family back in the same room’ in a ‘bumper edition’ of the two events.   

Mary Bond, group portfolio director, Seatrade Cruise referred to Seatrade Cruise Asia’s 30-year history while noting that the Tomorrow’s Talent Today programme reflects the cruise industry’s commitment to crewing. 

‘Filipino crew members are highly regarded in the cruise industry and represent a significant portion of the cruise ship workforce working across various cruise lines globally from the largest to the smaller specialist ships,’ she said.