Shipping is one of the most important sectors for Germany as a centre of business and logistics. However, a storm has risen over the industry, which is suffering from a blatant shortage of young talent, as became clear yesterday at a high-level conference in Berlin.
In addition to the very diverse initiatives from the shipping industry itself, politicians are also called upon to counteract this dangerous trend if Germany is to remain an important shipping location in the future, benefiting from the extensive expertise of its many thousands of employees in international competition. The key word: secondary market. The great importance of nautical-technical expertise for other professions is still generally recognised far too rarely.
"We need concerted action from all maritime stakeholders, supported by the federal states and moderated by the federal government, with a clear commitment to securing maritime training and employment in Germany in the long term," says Captain Christian Suhr, Chairman of the German Nautical Association.
Shipping offers young people a wide range of career prospects: on board and ashore in shipping companies, in the maritime industry, in the shipping administration and, last but not least, in ministries, associations and organisations. Nevertheless, young people still seem to be largely unaware of this appeal, as there is a lack of young talent.
In order to counteract the threat of a loss of knowledge and a weakening of the maritime location in Germany, the German Nautical Association and the German Shipowners' Association invited participants to a symposium on the "Challenges for the primary and secondary maritime labour market" at the State Representation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in Berlin.
During the conference, the current status of training opportunities was critically analysed, maritime prospects were highlighted and solutions were presented to get young people interested in maritime professions.
Some of the discussion points were:
- Competition for young talent is becoming increasingly fierce in all sectors. It is therefore essential to secure high-quality nautical-technical and dual vocational training at the location in the long term and continuously adapt it to technological developments. To this end, it will be necessary to respond much more quickly and unbureaucratically to the new requirements of maritime professions in the future. The dialogue between authorities, training institutions and industry must be significantly intensified. The extent to which the German flag could have a positive influence on the overall development must be examined further.
- Seafaring offers a diverse career field with great development prospects and a move into the maritime secondary market. The extensive experience on board provides the basis for further development as an expert. They are therefore predestined for the wide range of opportunities in the maritime labour market, such as with shipping companies, pilots, administrations, maritime training institutions, classification societies, insurance companies, maritime suppliers, shipyards, the port industry and federal and state law enforcement agencies. The same applies to commercially trained employees.
- The successful approaches of our European neighbours make it clear that only a common focus across the entire maritime industry will lead to success. We need maritime expertise in order to continue to be recognised as a strong, competitive maritime location in the world. In order for us to maintain this, the entire maritime industry needs to be much better integrated.
"We need maritime expertise in order to be recognised as a strong, competitive maritime location in the world in the future," said Holger Jäde, Training Officer at the German Shipowners' Association. "In order for us to maintain this, we need to be better integrated into the Maritime Alliance and clearly positioned within the National Maritime Conference. "
This central concern of the organisers found a cross-party consensus among the representatives of the Bundestag present at the subsequent parliamentary evening in the Hamburg State Representation.
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