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China: Grads turn to sea for careers |
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Sunday, 15 February 2009 |
 An increasing number of college graduates and high school pass-outs are now turning to sea for a career on board commercial ships. Li Enhong, an official with China Maritime Superintendency Administration under the Ministry of Transport, said yesterday
that a "seaman training program" for college and high school graduates
from central and western China has received more applications than ever
before.
Ding Yong, Party secretary of the navigation department of Dalian
Maritime University, said the number of applications the university
received in the second half of last year was "60 percent higher" than
in the same period in 2007.
Officials attributed the drastic increase to the sluggish employment market caused by the global economic meltdown.
"We expect the program to train at least 4,000 applicants this year, up
from the usual 2,000 to 3,000 over the past two years," Li said, adding
that more and more youngsters are getting attracted to careers on
commercial ships because of the "handsome pay".
"A college graduate needs to undergo training for a year, while a high
school pass-out is trained for two years before they can sit for the
national seafarer qualification test. Once they clear the test, they
are eligible to become third officers on ships sailing international
routes after a year's internship," he said.
The average annual pay for a third officer is about 100,000 yuan, much
higher than what most college graduates expect to make in their first
few years, he added.
A 2007 survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that the
average monthly salary for college graduates was "only 2,483 yuan".
Li said a number of seafarers, especially those above the rank of third
officers, were still required despite the current economic crisis,
which has resulted in a slump in the shipping market.
The International Maritime Organization said that there was a "serious shortage" of seafarers in the overseas shipping industry.
"The global shortage of seafarers, especially officers, has already
reached serious proportions, threatening the very future of the
international shipping industry, which is the lifeblood of world
trade," said a notice on its official website.
According to the notice, there is a current shortage of 34,000 officers
in the international shipping industry. The figure is expected to rise
to a whopping 83,900 by 2012, it said.
Domestically, the demand for sailors has not dwindled either.
Li said that all the near 17,000 aspirants who cleared the national seafarer qualification test last year landed jobs.
Though China has about 1.55 million sailors, only about 170,000 of them
are qualified to work as officers on commercial ships, he said.
Source: China Daily
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