Journey Of Indian Seafarers
The objective of all the efforts made by the mankind historically, is to make the world a better place for living. Inventions, discoveries, industries, companies or our jobs, are all inspired by this noble objective. Seafaring is one such profession, which has touched the lives of billions of people on this globe, by either helping them meet their basic needs or enhance their material standards of living by effectively redistributing the lopsided resources across the globe. World will always be grateful for the contribution of the seafarers. India does not have a very long history as a ‘Seafaring Nation’, but in quick span of time, Indian seafarers have earned impeccable reputation in the global industry. Today, we can say this with conviction that “Indian seafarers” have established their supremacy in the context of Global Maritime Industry. When Indians ventured into the sea for the first time, no formal education was needed back then. An attitude of courage and selfless service, for the benefit of the global community, subordinated the fear of any perils and uncertainties of sea. Primitive technology to run the ship was not tested and proven. For example, sailors depended entirely on the position of stars and moon to navigate and watch-keeping in the engine room with steam engines and huge boilers was labour intensive. Accidents were rampant in the earlier days of shipping. Shipboard technology improved to make the operations safer and more efficient. Need for the enhancement of skills of seafarers was felt. A structured regime for education and training became necessary. Recognising such need, the Indian administration took the initiative.
The first step was taken in this direction in 1927. A floating ship was commissioned as “Training Ship Dufferin” for the training of Nautical cadets. Engineering cadets also joined Dufferin for the first time in 1935. This batch had 25 nautical and 25 engineering cadets. In 1947, Merchant Navy Training Committee highlighted the need for Pre Sea training Institutions for ‘ratings’. T S Bhadra, T S Mekhla and T S Naulakshi were subsequently set up under the aegis of the Government. Post-independence, the Indian leadership realised the need for an upgradation in maritime training, in terms of ‘numbers’ and ‘competence’ of seafarers. The pre-sea training of marine engineers was decoupled from T S Dufferin and shifted ashore. A new training Institute, named DMET (The Directorate of Marine Engineering Training) was commissioned in 1949 at Mumbai (then Bombay) and Kolkata (then Calcutta). There were few other channels available for entering the seafaring profession as officers in Nautical or Engineering streams, such as direct entry or through workshop apprenticeship. Global shipping business has been cyclic in nature. The Indian seafarers were not isolated from this. Despite fluctuation in global demand for seafarers, number of Indian seafarers grew steadily. They did extremely well at sea and earned good reputation in the International Shipping Community. Many key positions ashore, within the shipping Industry, were also held by Indians (Ex seafarers) within a short span of time. Considering the growing reputation and future demand of Indian seafarers, Indian administration permitted private entities to set up Maritime Training Institutes in 1996. This step was also expected to rapidly increase the share of Indian seafarers in world shipping, paving the way for thousands of Indians for a respectable and lucrative career at sea. Since then, a number of pre-sea Institutes have opened up, to produce qualified seafarers. Some foreign shipping companies employing Indian seafarers, who account for a large number of deployments, invested heavily for creating state of the art maritime training facilities in India.
The cadets completing their pre sea training at these Institutions are provided training berths and are employed by these reputed companies. Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies, the training arm of the Executive Group of Companies Singapore, is certainly amongst the best of these Institutes. However, not every Institute is perfectly capable overall and in the absence of the training berths, many of the Indian seafarers are left high and dry today. Since the advent of formal training regime for maritime training in India around 1930s, the brighter lot of youngsters were attracted to the seafaring profession. With Indian economy not at the best and with limited job opportunities ashore, career at sea appeared a perfect choice. With limited job opportunities available on Indian ships, foreign ships became the main hub for employment. Hard work, intelligence, social values inherited back home and loyalty to the profession-- Indian seafarers earned impeccable reputation quickly in the International shipping. Robust schooling system, high entry standards, familiarity with English language, provided them winning edge over the seafarers from other Nations. Diversity of cultures within India made them perfect seafarers, as they could easily adjust in multi-cultural or multinational work environments. With primitive technology in place for running the ships, every ship had a large number of compliments. Our seafarers worked beyond the boundaries of job description. ‘Do and learn’ mindset prevailed rather than ‘why should I’? Seniors onboard had keen interest in learning and development of juniors. Longer port stays, relaxed regulatory regime, and absence of “information over load”, made the life on board relaxing.
At the same time, absence of automation and lesser ‘time between overhauls’, made watch keeping and maintenance routines, a bit physical intensive. Phone calls were either not possible or too expensive. The only way to connect with the near and dear ones used to be postal letters. Mail packets coming onboard used to be joyous event (most of the time). At the same time regular gathering in the smoke room to watch a movie or to a play game or to simply chit chat, built camaraderie and subdued the emotions of loneliness. Colleagues onboard were like family members. Their shared mental model and collective bargaining skills were evident, even during shopping at foreign ports- a number of ship staff used to buy the same items, from the same shops, at the same price! Quality time was spent with colleagues onboard and not with gadgets. Shipboard technology continued improving. Steam turbines or engines used for propulsion were replaced by two stroke engines, the latest ones being the electronic engines. Automation found extensive application. Modern bridge equipment made the information easily available for safe navigation. Papers charts were replaced by electronic charts. Advent of internet made the information exchange seamless. Operations became safer and more efficient. Machine labour and automation surveillance reduced the manual labour to a large extent. These changes contributed positively in the way the ships were operated. At the same time it had some adverse effects. With easy access to information, the camaraderie depleted onboard and many prefer isolation of the cabins over the smoke room in their free time.
The learning environment onboard has changed. Faster turnaround in ports and enhanced regulatory regime has reduced the shore leave time. With the growth of Indian economy, many opportunities of shore jobs have emerged. Sporadic piracy incidents are inappropriately highlighted by media, projecting seafaring as too risky profession. Enhanced training requirements has encroached the leave period. Due to the misrepresentation of the above facts, many of the prospective and eligible candidates feel that seafaring career is not lucrative enough. On the other hand reported issues from the employers, primarily related to seafarers’ attitude, has increased. Many owners and ship managers still value the Indian seafarers over other nationalities, primarily due the past laurels. Some foreign companies, headed by people of Indian origin, still have affinity towards Indians. Shorter contract periods, faster promotion, higher wages are some the incentives offered to retain Indians seafarers, despite the prolonged downturn in shipping. ‘Value for money’ will finally decide the employability of Indian seafarers in future. Countries like China, Philippines, Russia, Ukraine etc. have well realised the benefits, that an individual or the Nation can derive out of the seafaring profession. Most of these countries have adopted a systemic approach to enhance the technical and linguistic skills of seafarers, to offer a value for money proposition and increase their share in International Shipping. As per the official data available, India ended 2017 with 154,349 seafarers engaged on merchant ships, compared to 143,940 in 2016, 126,945 in 2015 and 117,090 in 2014. Of the 154,349 seafarers, 71,177 are officers while 83,172 are ratings or general-purpose staff accounting for 97,937 jobs on the nautical side and 56,412 on the engineering side. Stakeholders’ efforts, supported by Indian administration, has resulted in this steady growth in last couple of years. But the percentage share in the world shipping, whether it is 7% or 10%, can still be much better.
The shipping business looks up to India for its sustenance and growth, but India has not yet realised its true potential as a major supplier of seafarers. Decline in interest due to lack of awareness and decline in professionalism seems to be affecting Indian seafares. All of us, as the stake holders, must put our bit to ensure continued momentum with respect to the reputation and number of Indian seafarers in the International Shipping.
