Recruitment and retention of seafarers: a maritime industry insight from Myanmar

This thesis explores the challenges and opportunities of seafarer recruitment and retention in the maritime industry, with a focus on Myanmar seafarers and Uniteam Marine, a ship management company. The study examines macro-level factors like globalization, technological advancements and geopolitical dynamics that influence the maritime labour market. Concurrently, it explores meso-level and micro-level concerns specific to my employing organization – Uniteam Marine. This approach provides a broad view of both external influences and internal practices affecting recruitment and retention of seafarers.

The research endeavours to navigate the complexities facing Myanmar seafarers, an emerging seafaring nation, at a crucial time of technological and regulatory change. These challenges are explored through a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data from seafarers and interviews with industry stakeholders. The findings reveal a significant gap in the maritime industry’s preparedness for technological changes and a disparity between existing seafarer skills and those required by modern operations. It also identifies specific challenges faced by Myanmar seafarers, including educational and infrastructural limitations. The study also highlights that the maritime industry often overlooks seafarers' needs and concerns, indicating a common tendency to neglect these essential workers.

The study proposes a set of recommendations aimed at modernizing maritime education and training, enhancing industry-education collaboration, promoting seafaring as a viable and attractive career path and adopting international best practices to improve the recruitment and retention of seafarers. These recommendations are designed to improve the recruitment and retention of seafarers, tailored to the unique needs of Myanmar's maritime sector.

In conclusion, my research highlights the urgent need for a strategic overhaul of recruitment and retention practices within the maritime industry. Drawing from my experience and professional insights, I am supportive of a forward-looking approach that aligns with the evolving technological, operational and regulatory landscapes of modern seafaring. By embracing these changes, we can ensure the sustainability of the maritime workforce and, by extension, enhance the resilience of the global maritime sector. The thesis concludes by offering recommendation for the industry and academia, aiming to influence future practices and policies in seafarer recruitment and retention, particularly within the Myanmar perspective.