The shipping industry needs hundreds of new seafarers to deal with a growing shortage of skilled labour, which will worsen over time and could delay shipments of scores of consumer goods, marine experts say.
The shipping industry needs hundreds of new seafarers to deal with a growing shortage of skilled labour, which will worsen over time and could delay shipments of scores of consumer goods, marine experts say.
“You have this huge gap of people now that are deciding they’re going to retire and we just can’t fill that gap as fast enough as we’d like to,” said Gary O’Donnell, a captain with the Atlantic Pilotage Authority.
Within the next five years, 20 per cent of seafarers are expected to retire, according to the Seafarers International Union of Canada.
To fill that gap, training schools are working with industry officials to attract new students.
The Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Strait Area Campus is home to the