Seafaring officers are no sooner graduating from their cadetships than being snapped up by maritime companies keen to fill gaps in their workforces.
The Coastal Shipowners Association confirms that PNG is experiencing a real shortage of maritime professionals, in both the junior and senior officers.
General Manager of Pacific Towing, Neil Papenfus stressed that This is why cadetship programmes are so important, because they produce new seafaring professionals not only for the companies that develop and run them but for PNG’s broader maritime sector.
Additionally, General Manager of Consort Express Lines, Anthony Riley said The shortage of seafaring professionals in PNG is being compounded by an upswing in demand for them.
He elaborated that Businesses, particularly those linked to major developments such as the Papua LNG project need more vessels – especially for project cargo – and these vessels require more seafarers. As such, our home-grown cadets and the programmes that produce them are important and should be encouraged.
Currently, organisations that offer maritime cadetship programmes include Consort Express Lines and Pacific Towing , and P&O and PNG Ports Corporation. A new joint venture between Steamships, GFS, and the Gulf Provincial Government, have also announced that they too will be offering cadetships under Gulf Maritime Services (GMS).
