Employment characteristics of UK seafaring officers in 1999

Although UK deck and engineer officers numbers and age distribution are now well known, certain other aspects of this group of seafarers are not. This paper presents some new findings concerning their disposition across UK and non-UK companies, and provides a fresh estimate of the proportions of UK officers working at sea. The findings are based on a survey of members of National Union of Marine Aviation Shipping Transport. The evidence provides additional confirmation for the assumption that 90% of all officers are actively engaged at sea, and the numbers working for UK based companies are higher than previously thought. Policy implications are discussed.