IT and communications for the deep sea commercial shipping sector

Shortage of IT Staff in the Maritime Industry!

As we all know, finding the right resources is never easy and within our industry, it’s probably even harder to find the right people with both IT and Maritime experience. The Maritime IT sector is growing rapidly and with the introduction of “always on” communications, we will see demands for better and more sophisticated IT systems on ships. The knock on affect is that this will naturally grow the industry which is very positive but has a negative affect also.

With every shipping conference discussing the global lack of sea staff to man the number of new builds, should we be thinking about the lack of qualified IT PERSONNEL to support these vessels? Or do you believe that it’s not a big issue as finding IT people is relatively simple and training them on shipping aspects wouldn’t take too long.

Typing in “Shipping IT Jobs” came back with nothing except for loads of logistic/freight jobs with Excel experience at Heathrow airport!

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Permalink Reply by Karl Armstrong on June 10, 2008 at 10:44

All interesting points Wasim, I honestly think the shortage is down the ignorance of the Ship Owners and Management Companies themselves. I work for a large ship owner here in Italy. I personally install, configure and train all of our crews on new communications systems (mini-m, Fleet etc), email, planned maintenance systems, purchasing systems, SSAS. I follow 60 vessels and 2 offices by myself. I find that it is always an uphill task, due to the company not wanting to invest on shore training or even accusing me of doing nothing whilst i am on board.

As a profession we are extremely under valued and probably underpaid for the hours and work that is requested of us. I don't think it is a case of just 'training a basic land IT person' because every vessel is different.

Experience in my opinion is the best qualification!!!

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Permalink Reply by Wasim Kayani on June 10, 2008 at 11:29

The problem is that many Shipping companies still feel IT is NOT critical to the operation of ships.

When I started in Shipping 8-9 years ago, a Superintedent stood up in a meeting and said "Why are we spending money on putting computers onboard ? We used to sail our vessels safely/efficiently from A to B without computers - why do we need them now?"
I stood up and asked him to come into the office the next day and leave his laptop and mobile at home and see how efficient he was........conversation ended at that point.

He retired soon after but at the time and for a few years after, the "dinosaur" mentality still remained and it was felt IT could never add value to Shipping/Ships. Times are changing and with "always-on" connectivity upon us, its exciting times.

Your last point is spot on - experience is essential.

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Permalink Reply by Saikat Basu on June 16, 2008 at 20:40

Hello Wasim,
I have been following your thoughts, specally VSAT related in the recent publications.

Regarding this thread, I attended an interesting seminar not so long ago, when a guest speaker pointed to some case studies and attempted to prove that IT was actually NOT a tool for competetive advantage for corporations any more ...... her point was that solutions are available off the shelf for a fraction of cost of maintaining infrastructures in-house ........ at a micro level, for shipping, the same can be applied when there is a host of "IT stores" worldwide that provide support ...... this may be an ideal solution for a smaller shipping or a ship management company.
However, for BP and larger oil majors - where shipping itself may not be core business, and the requirements are quite different, marine support may piggy back on a larger existing corporate support base ...........
Thus, in a nutshell - I would think it is a case by case basis scenario and Management for company has to decide for itself, weighing the pros and cons.
My two cents.

Best regards,
Saikat.

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Permalink Reply by Grzegorz Pardyka on December 30, 2010 at 16:42

I agree with Karl,

A lot of small 3rd party Management Companies simply do not see the need to have IT guys in its flying squad at all!

Every one is expecting less costs with bigger profits so they cut the IT's out.

Regarding the owner's ignorance and under value and underpayment for IT depts I got the same feelings.

Some time ago I was asked by owner: "What exactly are you doing in the Company. IF EVERYTHING (phones, communications on the Vessels, software, PCs etc.) WORKS FINE, so what is the reason to keep you in the squad ?

If you have qualified IT's in flying squad - then you can prevent taking costs of failures. If do not have them - you take the costs of repairs. Of course prevention is cheaper but some people must realized about it.

I hope that cheaper VSAT solutions comming into market nowadays addressed to smaller companies with smaller budgets will rebuild the scene and change the mind of Managers that IT people do not have to get dirt to do a great work ;)

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Permalink Reply by Chris Walton on June 24, 2008 at 14:40

Hi Wasim,

Are you describing a problem caused by shipping companies not employing enough IT people to adequately support the ships or a problem actually finding suitably experienced, maritime oriented IT staff to do the job properly? Or both perhaps?

BRGDS
Chris

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Permalink Reply by Gary McDonald on July 10, 2008 at 1:57

This is a problem; it is easy to find skilled IT professionals in but not so easy to find professionals with the required skills to attend a vessel. Such as knowledge in satellite communications, shipping applications (AMOS, ChartCo, CargoMax etc) and even basic ‘life’ skills to understand how things work onboard, this is the challenge. I am not sure what the solution is, these are skills cannot learnt in the classroom, they can only be gained with experience.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Macdonald on September 14, 2008 at 22:58

Hi Wasim

What kind of IT skills do you have in mind? Software developers? Digital telecoms designers? My own feeling is that the maritime industry has traditionally been more focused on telecoms than IT, and it's only recently that electronic telecoms and IT have started to converge, e.g. PDA's and smart phones.. But as they converge, the first barrier to progress is the different standards used for communication and software. My guess is the manufacturers who will benefit most are the ones that adapt fastest and produce devices that have multiple comms standards built in, like portable computers do with USB, Ethernet or Bluetooth. The chipsets for these are prices in cents, so cost is not the barrier to progress.

Then IT software developers can really get to grips with the new digital marine hardware, and start integrating and networking the stuff in a way that end-users can understand and appreciate.

And for goodness sake I hope they learn their lessons and start using generic standards. IT firms may compete ruthlessly, but they know they need to cooperate on genuine standards, and not try and invent proprietry versions of standards in an attempt to lock other manufactures out of the market. It just fragments the market and confuses end-users. As an end-user of marine electronics, it frustrates me a lot that I cannot easily mix and match the hardware I like the most. As an IT software producer with 20 years experience, I'd just love to be able to use plug-and-play marine devices in the same way we already take for granted with computers and peripherals.

One example, today I was at the Boat Show in Southampton. Maybe I missed a few stands, but I couldn't find anyone offering a GPS or AIS unit that used USB, Ethernet or Bluetooth to communicate, as well as NMEA. Why do I want that? Because that's the dominant ways of linking devices to PC's or networking hardware, and if I buy a portable PC now, that's what they will have as standard. I want to use a portable PC with chart plotter software, and I want that sofware to be able to get data feeds from onboard GPS and AIS. Hopefully someone reading that will say "Ah, you should have gone to XYZ, they've got the hardware and the software you want". :-)

Regards
Keith Macdonald

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Permalink Reply by Jn on October 14, 2008 at 3:27

I agree that there's a lack of market in the IT in the marine industry.

I myself being the IT marine industry felt that the market had no need for us as the acceptance and adoption of IT in the marine industry is slow.

Marine IT requires different mentality and skills in managing the computers. Software used on board are also slightly different from shore. With FleetBroadband or always-on connection being available to the ships, soon we will have many mobile offices around the world. And it could be a little too late to adopt an IT department or mentality.

my 2 cents.

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Permalink Reply by Arnfinn Oksavik on October 16, 2008 at 15:02

Hi Wasim
I know one guy that has this kind of job, and the requirements seem to be as follows:
- Have sailed at least 10 years on various ships
- Have a BSc or similar in computer science, IT and Networking, Electrical Engineering or similar
- Have experience from all major It platorms, systems and applications.
- Be able to support ships and land offices alike
- Never make a mistake

According to this list of 'requirements' I'd say there are few candidates out there. Maybe the job is just too demanding to be attractive to prospective employees, if a straight land job pays the same.

I know this does not exactly address your question but I have the feeling this is part of the answer anyway.

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Permalink Reply by Wasim Kayani on October 17, 2008 at 14:15

Thanks for the response - agree with the comments and its fascinating that most of us share the same thoughts. With the further development of Always on technology, more emphasis needs to be placed on IT in Shipping and only then, will the industry realise the shortage if IT personnel.
Anyway, I'm off to Support my vessels, manage 3rd parties, review new tenders, evaluate new software, deliver some training courses, get VSAT working, identify continuous improvement, fix someones laptop and send out a new harddisk....and then its time for breakfast !

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Permalink Reply by Youri Hart on October 21, 2008 at 8:20

it is indeed the lack of shipping companies. A few months ago I boarded a vessel of a very large shipping company and they had there office it staff onboard and they couldn't solve the problem and they where mcse etc it is a lifestyle with the proper knowledge.

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Permalink Reply by Alasthair Saunders on April 23, 2009 at 13:44

In todays current market where reducing costs is a common theme, does anyone have experience of the business wanting to move Vessel Support roles to cheaper locations where staffing is a lot cheaper? Finding experienced IT staff in US and Europe with the required skill-set who can support the systems on vessels is hard enough, especially if it's without a remote connection via VSAT, FBB or HSD, but finding staff in countries where the infrastructure to provide a high technical skill-set is not the best is a real struggle. Businesses require more (and often complex) IT systems onboard vessels and these have to be supported. The challenge is resolving issues remotely whilst trying to interpret the 'fault' as described by a non-IT person onboard who's first language may not be yours. Without the benefit or luxury of 'seeing' a users desktop what might be a quick fix in the office to re-create a desktop shortcut can be a frustrating half hour over an expensive satellite voice link.