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European shipyards face recruitment crisis

Craig Eason - Monday 7 April 2008

EUROPE’S shipbuilders and engineering companies could be facing a recruitment crisis according to unpublished industry figures revealed to Lloyd’s List. 

The Europe-wide research, expected to be released later in the year, indicates that European yards and other engineering service companies need to recruit 10,000, and as many as 12,000, staff every year for the next five years to meet an increasing shortfall in workers and to remain productive. 

The figures come at a time when European shipbuilders, and especially the technical design companies, are in one of the most profitable periods in the industry’s history. 

Industry experts believe that shipbuilding’s image has improved, but are concerned that the recruitment problems could become acute as the industry proves to be unpopular with graduates and school leavers. 

To counter the problem, the Brussels-based lobby group, the Community of European Shipyard Associations , is co-ordinating this week’s pan-European recruitment campaign, Shipbuild Week 2008. 

Although CESA secretary general Dr Reinhard Lüken is adamant that the industry has managed to change its image, he believes the challenges are still acute as it faces a period of heavy retirement from the high number of over 55 year old workers. 

“We have huge growth, but an ageing workforce and a smaller pool from which to recruit from, as fewer school leavers opt for engineering careers,” said Dr Lüken. He believes the industry could be in a position where it has to replace nearly half of its workforce over the next five years. 

Until recently west European yards had looked to yards in east Europe to find qualified workers, to meet their needs. But this supply has dried out as Romania and Poland began to witness the same problems. 

In Romania, Damen Shipyards Galati managing director Gelu Stan says the problem is already acute as skilled workers from across the country’s ten yards have migrated to the US, mostly for rebuilding work in New Orleans. “We lost 4,500 workers over the last two years,” he said. “These are skilled workers that have now gone to NorthAmerica or to the other yards inEurope.” 

Mr Stan, who is also managing director of the Romanian Shipyard Association, believes that the country needs to find 2,600 new staff annually. 

The most prominent example of labour shortage came at the beginning of the year, as Aker Yards’ Finnish operations admitted it could not meet its ferry delivery schedule, citing a lack of skilled labour as one of the reasons. 

The Dutch shipbuilding association estimates it needs to fill 2,500 places in the Netherlands, while there are over one hundred empty posts annually going unfilled in Denmark. 

Shipyard week, which will continue until Friday, sees yards and engineering companies in over ten European countries throwing their doors open, to give 14 to 25 year old school children and undergraduates a taste of the industry, and a hope of meeting the industry’s shortfall in workers.