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!
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!
Views: 98
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Irene Teo on -
My experience looking after the office WAN and a fleet of ships IT, PMS, ChartCo, Communciation system (Email and Hardware), Doc System and etc. To employ an experience IT staff from shore and to train them to understand the IT requirement/culture in Maritime and to work independently will take at least 2 years to start with. Also to include training of shipstaff is an uphill tasks.
1) In fact, IT staffing in any company now is already shortage and for some don't even have one.
2) Also notice the new technology i.e. ECDIS and others are all software based. As more newly technology/equipment launching to meet the new requirement that to catch up with them and at the same time to troubleshoot all the old technology/equipment onboard is just too much.
3) On shore, we can planned for visit to any office and stay to complete the work but when comes to ship you can never planned and you got to work fast.
4) To do troubleshooting a problem by callling the ship is like shooting your foot as you still have to explain the phone cost at the end of the day.
As such, it is difficult to find and retain IT staff in Maritime Industry.
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Permalink Reply by Ron Vollenga on -
Good day all,
I am quite aware that shipping companies look for permanent IT staff with maritime experience. But if you have a short term requirement for these kind of resources, please contact me.
Previously I worked for P&O Nedlloyd within the FMD department as IT Project Manager and currently I am involved in a Dutch broadband project (Broadband@Sea).
Kind Regards,
Ron Vollenga
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Permalink Reply by Jn on -
Singapore. Philippines a good place to start looking for IT staffs for maritime.
The demand for Maritime IT increases, the supply will increase as well. For now we are the privileged few who had the experiences. For those Maritime companies who wants to in house their IT capabilities and does not want to spend time training them, we would be at an advantage.
However, staying long term in Maritime IT would get you detach from Shore IT, in this making finding a shore IT job little harder. Let see how it all plays out, for now I am seeing a increase in Shipping company in seek of IT staffs.
(In Singapore that is.)
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Permalink Reply by Satvinder Singh on -
Though this is an old thread, I know couple of wonderful guys well capable of delivery what has been listed by various guys up here, and more.
Please contact me if you are seriously looking out for someone suitable.
Cheers,
Satvinder
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Permalink Reply by Shan Manivannan on -
Wasim,
I think the industry is now getting organized with more and more professional management companies coming in to fray. The recent recession had forced companies to run their operations more efficiently and cost-effectively. Without proper tools its is difficult to achieve these tough targets.
Yes, one can manage a ship without computers, but the modern tools will definitely facilitate them to manage the operations more efficiently and release pressure on them to think clearly. Imagine managing a huge vessel with paper based systems.
With communication system improving, its is going to be more shore based applications accessed thru internet. The industry should gear itself for this. Imagine a situation where the management can manage their entire fleet sitting in the office, getting update information on performance, cost, etc.
The improvements in communication will also bring down dependence on IT Professionals, since we can have a team at the shore and manage the IT remotely in most of the cases.
Kind Regards
Mani
www.exertiontech.com
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Permalink Reply by Vingo Zhang on -
Hello Wasim,
You made the point -
I just quit from a USA company which is focusing on maritime communication systems and wanna to do my own business - provide IT services for maritime industry. I have 10+ IT working experience onshore and 7 years of servicing experience onboard ships, attending more than 150 ships per year and have a fully understanding what you said here.
It is very obvious that the guy who knows the ship doesn't know the IT whilst the guy who knows the IT doesn't understand ship. I am thinking to establish a platform on setting up a business relationship among all these guys who understand both IT and ship in order to extend our IT services to our customers worldwide.
Looking forward to getting your more comments. And also would appreciate very much for any comments from all the guys here.
Best Regards,
Vingo (Shanghai, China)
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Permalink Reply by Kevin on -
Hello Wasim,
I agree with you, I am computer engineer with over 6+ years of excperience currently emoployed with Microsoft.
I have been trying for IT Department in ship from more then three months sending mails and CV to many recruiters and shipping agencies but either there is no reply from them or they say "as of now there is no vacancies"
I wish if I could get someone who is into the technical department of shipping industry and have some guidence from him.
Regards,
Kevin.
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