Crew expenses push up vessel operating costs

Crew expenses push up vessel operating costs    Vessel operating costs are expected to rise 3.2 percent in 2010 and 3.5 percent in 2011, with crew costs identified as the category most likely to produce the highest levels of increase, according to a new survey by international accountant and shipping consultant Moore Stephens.
   The survey is based predominantly on responses from ship owners and managers in Europe and Asia.
   'It's all about crew,' one survey respondent said, according to Moore Stephens. 'With fewer experienced crew available for worldwide fleet expansion, labor costs will rise.'
   Another respondent said, 'in order to keep the present pool of seafarers and improve performance, we will need to look at increases in wages and other benefits for seafarers so that they are attracted to work onboard, rather than take up lucrative jobs ashore.'
   Respondents also expressed concern over rising insurance costs, and that operating costs would increase due to the weakness of the dollar.
   'Ship operating costs have been running at increasingly high levels in recent years but our OpCost benchmarking tool shows that, in 2009, total annual operating costs fell — for the first time in eight years — across all the main ship types by an average of 2 percent,' said Moore Stephens shipping partner Richard Greiner. 'It is no surprise now to find that the industry is expecting costs to increase this year and next, nor to learn that crew costs are likely to lead the way in this regard. But it does seem that some of the volatility of recent years has gone out of ship operating costs, and that is good news for shipping. Any repeat of the huge increases recorded in recent years would be unsustainable in the current economic climate.'