Forget the 1980s org chart. Talent is now a systems question, Shipping UK panel says

Within little more than a decade, the conversation about the world’s seafarer workforce has moved from one and a half million people to two and a half million, while the fleet discussion has grown from 50,000 ships towards 80,000. Add shorter careers at sea and the arithmetic becomes stark: the industry needs a far faster rate of workforce renewal than almost any comparable sector; and it must achieve it in a challenging geopolitical and security climate.

That is the backdrop to Recruiting and Retaining Talent Amid Turbulence, a headline breakout at Shipping UK on 6 October, chaired by Phil Parry, CEO of Spinnaker, with Marie Cooper, director of crewing at Zodiac Maritime; Hajnalka Kiss, crew resources director at V.Group; and Philip Fullerton, managing director of Northern Marine.

Expect the panel to range well beyond the obvious headlines. Geopolitics here means more than conflict zones: it means mobility, work permit challenges, and the practical difficulty of persuading well-established professionals to relocate to harder postings. But the panel’s real energy lies closer to home, specifically in what the industry does to itself. Why does training so often certify, rather than create competence? Why are the seafarers most at risk of leaving not the masters and chief engineers, but the capable junior officers for whom too few shore-side pathways exist? And why does an industry with a genuinely compelling future story still let the outside world see it only when something goes wrong?

The discussion will draw on strategic workforce planning disciplines from aviation, treating attraction, development, wellbeing and retention as one integrated system, rather than separate problems. And it will argue for a decisive shift from a career at sea to a career in maritime, in which curiosity and attitude count for as much as sea time.

Shipping UK takes place on 6 October 2026 at the QEII Centre, Westminster, hosted by the UK Chamber of Shipping in partnership with Riviera Maritime Media. This must-attend event will bring together global industry leaders, key stakeholders, UK and international policymakers and sector experts in the heart of Westminster for a day of insight and debate on the industry’s future. Tickets are available via the following link.