The number of vessels in the Swedish merchant fleet is growing – but the recruitment of maritime officers is struggling to keep up. The shortage of maritime personnel, which is most pronounced when it comes to engine officers, has become an obstacle to new investments in Swedish shipping.
Within the next decade, the number of newly graduated maritime personnel needs to increase by 45–50 extra people per year, says Johan Hartler, expert in competence supply at the Swedish Shipowners' Association, Swedish Shipping.
The consequence of the shortage is that shipping companies must consider whether they can place the vessels that have been ordered today under the Swedish flag, or if they must go under another nation's flag and regulations.
So far, they are managing, but only just. Staff shortages can cause some shipping companies to flag out instead of investing, says Hartler.
Expensive to renew certification
In shipping, it is also difficult to rehire because personnel lose their certification after five years. To reactivate their certification, those who want to return to the profession must themselves pay for a 6-8 week long training.
The problem is that the price that each individual has to pay for the reactivation package is 250,000-300,000 kronor, says Johan Hartler, a cost that can deter many.
Another problem that shipping is struggling with is to attract young people who want to educate themselves and work as maritime personnel. Until this year, it has been difficult to fill the training places.
Attracted to sea life
Hanna Andersson, 22 years old, is an exception. She is studying to become a navigator in her final year of the maritime captain's program at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and chose to study to become a sailor already in high school. The combination of theory and practice in the work of shipping attracts her.
I want to sail a tanker after graduation, she says to TT, and believes that increased awareness of shipping could attract more young people to the industry.
The cohesion that can arise in a crew is also something that has attracted Hanna Andersson to the profession.
If you have a good team, you don't focus on who or who created a problem, but on how to solve it. If you get that atmosphere on board, it's really fun.
Ebba Blume/TT
Fact: The merchant fleet is increasing
TT
Sea transport transports over 80 percent of the goods that are traded worldwide if you measure in volume. Common cargo goods are, for example, biofuels and gasoline.
More than 90 percent of Sweden's foreign trade goes via shipping and nearly 30 million passengers per year travel by ferry to and from Sweden.
The Swedish merchant fleet increased last year, from 310 to 313 vessels. The increase is due to the fact that the fleet of cargo ships increased for the first time since 2018, from 113 to 117 vessels.
The entire merchant fleet consisted of 593 vessels in December 2024.
Sources: The Government and UNCTAD Maritime Data.
