View From The Bridge: 2018 Overview

Clyde Marine Recruitment Managing Director, Ian Livingstone briefly reflects on the past year and touches on what to expect from Clyde Marine Recruitment in the new year.

2018 has been a very exciting year for us at Clyde Marine Recruitment.  Crewing contracts have been won in several sectors, including supporting a major offshore player with UK and Portuguese crew complement in the early part of the year and in December we commenced a new crew management contract for a blue-chip ferry operator in the Baltics.  During this year we have made significant investment in digital technology, which will provide a mechanism to cope with the rigours of GDPR whilst significantly improving the client experience.  We are very excited about 2019 when we will launch a new digital service for recruitment.  This will include a mobile app for all our candidates and a client crew portal providing real-time visibility of crew supplied, significantly improving compliance.  More news on this will be forthcoming during the early part of 2019.

View of the UK Crewing Market and Brexit

The UK crewing market is one of feast or famine.  Too many Junior Officers are fighting for limited positions and are unable to gain single-handed watch-keeping experience. Ratings continue to be in very limited supply with a demographic profile which is going to make the situation critical very shortly as many enter retirement.  Many owners and operators are more and more reliant on EU crew members being able to fill the shortfall, something which we have seen first-hand.  With the threat of a requirement to hold work permits imposed by Brexit, many operators will face major difficulties maintaining a stable workforce to crew their vessels on UK trade.  We have major concerns which we have raised with the UK Chamber of Shipping about not being able to find a sufficient UK personnel resource.  If the process for obtaining work permits is complicated or we cannot obtain permits for EU Ratings there is going to be a major problem in UK coastal shipping.

“As we head into the festive period we would like to thank all our clients and candidates for their continued support and wish you all the best for Xmas and a wonderful New Year.” Ian Livingstone, Managing Director, Clyde Marine Recruitment