Shipping looks set to be one of very few industries to record better year-on-year financial results during this pandemic year, and the improved financial situation is trickling through to the maritime recruitment scene with nascent signs companies are hiring again. Human resources movements have always been a good barometer of the health of the shipping industry and form the focus for the lead story in the August issue of Splash Extra.
“We are also slowly seeing an increase in the number of roles and vacancies within the maritime sector,” Ryan Kumar, managing director of recruitment firm, Direct Search, told Splash Extra, while Heidi Heseltine, CEO of UK-headquartered Halcyon Recruitment, said that while there are still many hiring freezes in place, organisations in good financial positions are starting to reconsider their position.
“The thought process being that now is actually a prime opportunity to attract strong talent where there is so much uncertainty due to both market conditions and Covid-related matters,” Heseltine said.
Elsewhere in the subscription title, which publishes on the last Wednesday of every month, there’s an in-depth look at the state of European ship finance. After 10 years of sliding, Western ship lending has finally picked up, according to Athens-based Petrofin Research. However, is this a blip or the start of a new long-term trend? Splash Extra canvassed many of the top names in ship finance to assess the issue.
“With global interest rates so low, European banks are looking for anything with good margins,” commented Randy Giveans, senior vice president at Jefferies.
As well as market commentary and a review of the most important news stories of the month, Splash Extra also features its popular Analyst Abstract section where reporters break down the best analyst commentary of the past four weeks. The data and views of Alphatanker, Allied, Arrow, BIMCO, Braemar ACM, Clarkson, Cleaves, Intermodal, Lorentzen & Stemoco, Shipping Strategy and VesselsValue are contained in the report.
Splash Extra serves as a concise snapshot of what is driving the shipping markets. Priced for as little as $200 per year it is an essential tool for the shipping community to help navigate investment decisions in today’s tricky environment. For more subscription details, click here.
Companies are hiring again – but most of these positions are based in Singapore, the wider Far East and Middle East. The European job market for shipping has declined markedly in the last decade and this is especially true in liner shipping, where the year-on-year financial improvements have been seen.
In other words, the headline only tells a small part of the story.
For the full story, Martyn, you’ll need to subscribe