FINANCIAL TIMES: …The evacuation concerns go alongside worries across much of the shipping industry about the challenges of finding properly qualified crew for all the thousands of ships being delivered annually…
Cruise lines – which pay officers far better than most other shipping companies – can generally attract high-quality deck officers and engineers. But most of the hundreds of other crew members aboard the largest vessels receive only four to five days’ initial safety training each, according to Andrew Linington, head of communications for Nautilus International, a trade union for ships’ officers….
The growing size of cruise ships reflects the same economic principles that have created increasingly large container ships and dry bulk carriers. Operating a ship of twice the capacity of a smaller vessel seldom costs twice as much. Bigger vessels enjoy significant economies of scale… (more)
