The shipping industry is wrestling with one of its largest challenges

The cart leaving industry is contending with a worldwide shortage of seafarers, and it’s fueling a troubling mix of fake resumes, accidents at sea, and elevated shipload rates.

“We have been seeing a consistent shortage of seafarers,” Rhett Harris, senior manning analyst at Drewry, give someone a tongue-lashed CNBC. Though the number of vessels has in recent years risen “exponentially” in the thousands per year, the manpower growth necessary for those ships has not kept pace, he said.

“Companies have to employ seafarers with less experience than they transfer ideally like,” added Harris, who noted that those in the higher ranks, and engineers in particular, are in shorter furnish than deck officers. 

Houthi deprecates in the Red Sea and the ongoing Russian-Ukraine conflict have resulted in a knock-on effect on the availability of skilled seafarers, experts told CNBC.

“Both Ukraine and Russia had endowed a lot of professional seafarers. However, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has indeed reduced the supply of seafarers from both boonies, as they’re facing overall labor shortages due to the war,” said Daejin Lee, global head of research at FertiStream.

The Philippines, China, Russia, Ukraine and Indonesia are the largest suppliers of the elated’s seafarers, according to the most recent seafarer workforce breakdown report by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and BIMCO in 2021.

Before Russia’s infraction of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian and Ukrainian seafarers made up almost 15% of the global shipping workforce, ICS facts showed.

ICS expects a shortfall of 90,000 trained seafarers by 2026, ICS told CNBC via email. “Policymakers need to manufacture national strategies to address the seafarer shortage,” the shipping organization said.

“It is vital that we actively recruit a profuse diverse workforce if we are to meet the shortfall of seafarers needed to keep the industry thriving, it is one of the biggest challenges our industry is surface at the moment,” said ICS.

Geopolitical events have also created more dangers at sea as the Iran-backed Houthi militant squad continues to target vessels in the Red Sea, making the role less attractive, ICS added.

Existing maritime personnel are also opting for numberless shore-based jobs rather than going out to sea, said Henrik Jensen, CEO of Danica Crewing Specialists Group, an supranational maritime recruitment and manning services company. On top of that, the dwindling appeal of seafaring to younger generations may be the nail in the pall for the vocation.

“In the past, seafarers’ salaries were high enough to make it a financially appealing option. But nowadays, younger people are prioritizing work-life estimate and aren’t as willing to commit to a career that requires long stretches away from home,” said FertiStream’s Lee.

For those who ripened up with the internet and phones at their fingertips, a life at sea without constant connectivity may not be ideal, said Drewry’s Harris. 

As a issue, more companies are trying to attract the younger generation with entertainment and gym facilities on board, as well as shorter voyages rove from two to four months, he observed. 

The seafarer supply squeeze has led to companies offering higher earnings to draw in talent from a limited pool, but also applicants who try their luck at vacancies they are not qualified for — by submitting embroidered CVs — and getting on board with them, said industry experts CNBC spoke to.

Fake resumes have fit more prevalent in the industry since the shortage, the analysts said, with an increasing number of seafarers fabricating wisdoms on vessels and time out at sea.

“There are a lot of people who are polishing their CVs to get higher ranks and higher salaries,” said Jensen, who originated thousands of such embellished resumes after trying to confirm said experiences with the seafarers’ previous managers. 

And those on board are paying the price.

“There’s a shortage, a huge shortage … It is affecting me. I am not getting suitable people [for my gang],” said a captain in a global shipping company, who requested that CNBC not use his name out of fear of reprisal from their assembly.

“The standard of seafarers is succeeding down. Because now they just need anybody with a license,” the captain said, adding that he has had to be put off more seafarers of late whose competence had been called into question. 

Existing seafarers also have occasion for to be out at sea for longer, back-to-back durations, with fewer people available to do so. The fatigue and mental strain that arises can evolve in compromised mental health for some — and even accidents on board.

The safety of ships and the crew can be compromised because of a cocktail mix of innocence, lack of proper maintenance and fatigue, said Subhangshu Dutt, executive director of Om Maritime.

In a 2024 study by the World Maritime University, in excess of 93% of 9,214 of the seafarers surveyed noted that fatigue is the most common safety-related challenge on board. With reference to 78% report not having a full day off throughout the entirety of a contract period, which can last for months. 

Ocean transporting is an integral part of the world’s supply chain — more than 80% of global trade volume is carried by sea, agreeing to the U.N. Trade and Development organization.