With shortages of crew from traditional seafaring sourcing nations, Schulte Group shipmanager BSM has turned to West Africa as its new source of seafarers. Germany’s Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement is diversifying its crew pool by launching a maritime training centre in Ghana, located on the campus of the Regional Maritime University in Accra. The offered courses focus on vocational exposure and the training of cadets, officers and ratings, in addition to programmes offered by the university. Several shipmanagers have turned their attention to Africa as the working-age population of old powerhouse seafaring nations is anticipated to decline over the next few years. BSM started training African seafarers back in 2012 and today counts about 600 seafarers from the region in its crew pool. The company said it expects the region to become one of the new frontiers for sourcing the next generation at sea, “as the population is young and growing rapidly”. “With the establishment of a local training facility, not only are we underlining our ongoing commitment to the region but also addressing the growing demand for skilled crew by diversifying our crew pool,” said Eva Rodriguez, HR marine director at BSM. The new setup in Ghana, which is also expected to attract seafarers from other African countries such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Algeria, is BSM’s sixth institution of this kind, with training centres already established in Cyprus, China, India, the Philippines, and Poland. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsSeafarers Shipmanagement