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OCR for page 7
2
EFEECTIvE MANNING
fief festive manning ~ encompasses innovations in the crewing of merchant
vessels, including both the number and functional organization of the
crew, which improve cost-effectiveness, the human environment of the
workplace, and safety. It also includes supporting innovations in
vessel design and operating technology, the management structure and
operating practices of ship operating companies, the policies and
practices of labor unions, and government statutes, regulations and
programs, and the structure and process of collective bargaining.
Some manning changes which increase productivity have adverse socio-
~conomic effects, i.e., decreasing employment and increasing workloads.
These f requently are coupled with compensating increases in wages and
prerequisites. However, other manning innovations have the potential
for simultaneously increasing productivity and improving working con-
ditions, e.g., interdepartmental flexibility, decentralized decision
making, participative work planning, employment and assignment
continuity, and increased training .
Effective manning became an objective in the early 1960s when
vessel operators in Northwest Europe and Japan sought to take advantage
of shipboard automation to reduce their operating costs, in part by
reducing crew, as a counter strategy to the more cheaply manned and
operated fleets of developing nations, flags of convenience, and the
more heavily subsidized fleets of Eastern bloc countries. Since labor
costs prior to the 1973 oil crisis contributed heavily to the operating
expenses of ship operating companies in industr ialized counts ies, crew
reductions were eagerly sought by management. The high cost of labor
was not, however, the only stimulus. The severe and chronic shortage
of maritime manpower throughout the worldwide fleet expansion of the
1960s and early 1970s was a strong inducement for management, labor,
and government to be flexible with regard to negotiated and legislated
manning scales and work practices. (In contrast, rare' y has the United
States had a shortage of maritime manpower except in time of war. ~
The initial manning reduction efforts: Of the ~ Sync =1 cm -~, Ned we to
Northwest European government and industry commitment to industrial
democracy, and concern for the quality of working life.
~ ~ _ _ ~——_ ~ _ ~ ~ ~ .,
7
OCR for page 8
8
Manning innovations have character istically consisted of smaller
complements of seafarers tasked with enlarged technical and manager ial
responsibilities, usually on newly constructed, often highly automated
vessels. These technological and organizational innovations have been
accomplished by various means. In many cases, they have been developed
through research efforts of individual companies and their unions,
sometimes drawing expertise from larger multicompany shipping associ-
. .
ation research projects. Government agencies have sponsored basic and
applied research preceding shipboard exper imentation, and occasionally
have provided monetary support for the exper iments. Government
agent ies also have prov ided regulatory vat lance when necessary for
experimental purposes, and made permanent regulatory changes consequent
to experimental success. A more recent role played by government has
been the active promotion of integrated technical and organizational
innovations (i.e., ships, equipment, and crew structures) leading to
highly competitive new ship construction. Promotion, in this case,
consists of hinging builder and/or operator subsidization on
participation in substantial research programs, including shipboard
exper imentation. West Germany's Ship of the Future program (Schiff
der Zukunft) and Japan' s Modernization of the Japanese Seafar ing
System and Shipbuilding programs are examples of this approach.
In contrast to the manning innovations tr fed and made in the
merchant f lee ts of Northwest Europe and Japan, comparatively little
has been tried or accomplished in the United States. Most U.S.-flag
merchant vessels operate at manning levels higher than those cuff com-
peting f leets. No programs have been developed in this country to
harness the best cooperating e ef forts of management, labor, and go~rern-
ment to make the United States f feet more competitive.
The worldwide mar itime business climate has changed in many ways
an issue . A sharp economic r ever Sal
has beset the Ship operating Industry Prom the mid-19tOs to the
present. Maritime manpower is in oversupply. The pr ice of bunker ing
and the cost of capital have surpassed and overshadowed manning costs
in their proportional contr ibution to total vessel operating expense.
Yet competition continues to intensify as a Result of the shipping
recession. THUS, manning reduction and attendant organizational
innovations continue to be attractive objectives. Although increased
fuel eff ic~ency and reduced capital costs also are important goals,
government, industry, and labor all agree that manning innovations
will be important to the competitiveness of the U.S.-flag fleet. The
means of accomplishing the necessary changes is the basic issue.
since effective manning became
Representative terms from entire chapter:
ship operating
