There is, said the president of the UK Chamber of Shipping the other day, “a global shortage of seafarers”. There is nothing very unusual in such an observation; the shipping industry has been swinging from feast to famine for centuries. It was the raison d’etre for the press gang and the crimps who used to haunt the waterfronts in the days of sail.
Today we have expeditions from crewing agencies, fanning out across the world searching for people, preferably so disadvantaged on land that seafaring at the going pay scales is sufficient to persuade them afloat.
That is a cynical view, of course. Modern seafaring offers prospects for rapid advancement, a reasonable package of rewards and for officers, aSeguir leyendo