Page 17: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q1 2016)

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That effectively translates into a hiring void from 2008 to 2010 and those people would now have ? ve to eight years of experi- ence. Speci? cally, it has been particularly tough for employers looking for good dry bulk operations staff in Singapore for the last few years unless they are willing to break their budgets and set new market highs. When a good operations person comes along – especially those with strong customer-service skills who can look after contract of affreightment business – they typically are hired very quickly.

Matthew Cornelius, Spinnaker Global’s head of Asia Paci? c commercial desk said earlier this month, “There simply isn’t the local supply to match the requirements of the shipping com- panies. The preference for local and permanent Singaporean residents plus the clamp-down on Employment Passes from the Singaporean government has contributed to the struggle to ? nd staff. Vacancies are in danger of not being ? lled because there aren’t enough people to ? t the criteria and employers are understandably unwilling to open the salary ? oodgates.”

What do we know about the outlook for the shipping econo- my in 2016 and what will it mean for maritime employment?

A great, albeit depressing, statistic to put things into context is that China’s slowing growth has crushed shipping rates to such an extent that newspapers reported hiring a 1,100-foot merchant vessel was cheaper than the price of renting a Ferrari for a day. Here is what the market is saying: » 2016 could well be a year of record scrapping. We hope so.

» The consensus is that the dry market really has ? nally reached the bottom and the smart and brave money should buy. Many have started.

» Tankers will continue to have a good ride for 6 or 9 months but even continued low oil prices won’t compensate for large numbers of newbuildings due late in the year and the ? rst half of 2017.

» Offshore? Another tough year almost certainly.

» 2016 is the year to invest in LNG, which is poised to bene? t from new liquefaction and regasi? cation projects in the next few years.

» Containers will continue to suffer from a rather large number of rather large ships.

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