Employment problems for junior command personnel
Automatic translation
The crew of each vessel, regardless of its type and purpose, must include: the captain, the officers (senior, middle and junior) and the ship's crew as such. The senior staff consists of the captain, chief mate and chief and second engineer. The junior command personnel include: second and third mate, electromechanics and third and fourth mechanics.
Regression in seafarers' vacancies
It cannot be said that the senior and junior command personnel have no problems with employment today. In fact, now, especially in the context of a pandemic, there is a regression in the vacancies of seafarers in all specialties, without exception. Therefore, today it is difficult for any seafarer from Ukraine to go to sea. The main reason for this is the increase in the time required for obtaining documents, which is why Ukrainian seafarers miss the deadline for boarding a ship. This, of course, does not suit the shipowners, and now they prefer to hire Filipinos or representatives of other ethnic groups who do not require high pay to work at sea. With regard to the junior officers, our specialists are gradually being replaced by the Turks. This trend has been going on since 2019 and, unfortunately, the situation is only getting worse.
Another, no less problematic aspect of the issue of employment of Ukrainian seafarers is the deterioration of the educational base. According to crewing representatives, Ukrainian seafarers lack adequate training and education directly on board. This affects, first of all, the qualifications of future members of the ship's personnel, both privates and command personnel. Therefore, large international companies are not eager to develop relationships with Ukrainian crewing companies in matters of employment of seafarers on their ships. In this regard, junior command personnel may remain "on the shore" for a long time, without the opportunity to go to sea, and this, as we already know from previous articles, may result in an even greater reluctance of shipowners to hire seafarers with a long break in work. ...
Bureaucratization and corruption of organs
The third and probably one of the key problems in the employment of seafarers is the bureaucratization and corruption of the bodies dealing with the issues of employment and certification of seafarers at the national level. This problem is quite multifaceted and contains a whole set of factors that, to one degree or another, affect the likelihood of successful employment of a Ukrainian seafarer. I think that a lot of seafarers, whether they are beginners who want to start for the first time, or experienced seafarers, faced the need for some kind of material compensation in exchange for the opportunity to go to work at sea. And, it is one thing when this issue is resolved in the legal field (services of crewing companies for the services of selecting a vacancy on the right ship). However, situations are very common when the so-called "kickbacks" require a person who just have connections in the right places. Often, the amount that they need to pay for their "help" is almost half of the money earned. Most often, such "relationships" can be observed during the first departure on a voyage, when the lack of work experience does not allow an ordinary seafarer to count on drawing attention to his person.
The bottom line is that employment problems for junior command personnel are not insoluble. However, the overwhelming majority of them cannot be solved purely by the forces of the seafarers themselves. The main problem continues to be the lack of assistance from the state.
