One of the top six third-party ship management companies in the world, Wilhelmsen Ship Management, intends to hire more Indian sailors as part of its aims to grow the fleet by 60% over the following five years.
There are currently more than 2,500 Indian seafarers working for the company that founded Indian operations in Mumbai in 1975. The amount represents around 30% of the pool of seafarers. According to a senior executive, the main goal is to gradually increase the number of seafarers, including officers.
The CEO and President of Wilhelmsen Ship Management, Carl Schou, stated that they are committed to India and would be present for a considerable amount of time.
They will increasingly concentrate on hiring more Indian sailors as the fleet size grows.
Additionally, according to Carl Schou, the CEO and president of Wilhelmsen Ship Management, they also intend to hire 300 to 400 sailors in the upcoming years.
In accordance with its commitment to ESG values and gender diversity, he also stated that the corporation would be hiring more female cadets over the following several years.
Female cadets currently make up 4% of the annual intake.
Mr. Schou emphasised that Indian seafarers are in demand in the business due to their skills and said that, globally, the scarcity of seafarers had continued to be a problem for the shipping sector. In order to solve this, they have been growing the number of cadets they accept each year for the past five years by 24%.
He continued by saying that they are also collaborating with the owners of their [ships] to build a sustainable pipeline that will include future officers and create room for more junior officer roles onboard.
The company, he said, has successfully lined up plans to enable its managed fleet with zero- or low-emission fuels including LNG, hydrogen, methanol, and ammonia, in keeping with the International Maritime Organization’s objective of cutting emissions by 50% by the year 2050.
Since a big shift was anticipated, it was essential that the crew members receiving particular training to manage such vessels. As a result, the company increased the capacity of its Mumbai-based training centre, which has been operational since 1998.
The company is anticipated to experience a simultaneous surge in volume and fleet growth if it purchases more than $230 million worth of Indian goods for its international operations.
Chennai is where Wilhelmsen’s office is located. From then, it provides assistance to the ship as it moves toward capacity increase by implementing growth initiatives.
