EMSA issued a review of Seafarer Statistics in the EU based on data extracted from certificates and endorsements registered by EU Member States, Iceland and Norway until 31 December 2019.

In fact, the review includes data which was transferred and recorded in the STCW Information System (STCW-IS) until 31 December 2020, while represents a snapshot of the European labour market in terms of the number of seafarers holding valid certificates and endorsements in 2019.

According to EMSA, the total number of masters and officers holding valid certificates of competency (CoC) at EU level was 216,000. Of these, 3.55% held CoCs entitling them to serve in both the Deck and Engine Departments. In addition, just a very limited number of them (0.07%) held CoCs issued by more than one EU Member State.

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The five EU Member States that had more masters and officers holding CoCs issued by them in 2019 were:

• the United Kingdom (30,217)
• Greece (21,850)
• Poland (20,829)
• Norway (18,793)
• Croatia (14,962).

What is more, the five EU Member States that had more masters and officers holding EaRs issued were Malta (72,601), Cyprus (29,973), Norway (16,074), Portugal (14,714) and the Netherlands (11,630).

Finally, the five non-EU countries which had more masters and officers holding CoCs recognised by EU Member States were the Philippines (46,114), Ukraine (26,057), the Russian Federation (17,380), India (10,544) and Turkey (5,548).

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From the overview for the period 2014-2019, it can be observed that since 2016 there has been an increase of more than 70,000 masters and officers available to serve on board EU Member States flagged vessels.

Nevertheless, the overall figures remained broadly stable in terms of distribution by country issuing the original CoC. The figures remained stable also in terms of distribution of masters and officers by department, capacity, gender, nationality and age. This stability may continue to indicate that, in general terms, the European maritime labour market has been able to attract new entrants that have replaced those leaving the seafaring career.

Source: Safety4sea