An exploratory study of the training of South African officers in the merchant navy

According to the latest BIMCO and Drewry reports, there is a global shortage of officers for the worlds’ merchant fleet. This article focuses on the South African labour market for officers and examines some of the maritime education and training challenges facing these officers in accessing global labour markets. The paper argues that despite processes of globalisation, the nation state can still be an important actor in shaping global labour markets. Using a qualitative approach, interviews were conducted with 10 key informants in the maritime human resources management sectors in South Africa. Interview data was analysed and coded for themes using NVivo qualitative data analysis software (QSR International Pty Ltd., Version 10, London, UK). This was theoretically informed by Braun & Clarke’s six-step method of thematic analysis. This was combined with a review of labour market statistics to demonstrate that the key challenges facing South African officers are the lack of training berth availability and the lack of South African ship ownership. The solutions adopted by the state includes a limited adoption of best practices adopted by global MET institutions in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and Nigeria. The article contributes to filling the gap in empirical-based maritime studies that are located on Africa.