In December, Spinnaker’s Maritime HR Association released its second market analysis report based on data from the 2023 salary survey. This focused on the commercial operations job family.
From this data, they found that commercial operations staff were typically located in India, Singapore, the US, the UK, and China and nationalities largely aligned with these locations.
Within the data set, the professional level (Maritime HR Association code OP01) is still the most prevalent job code.
A Typical Operations Team
Within our survey, a typical operations team is made up of 1 Head of Department or Director (OP04), 4 Operations Managers (OP03), 7 Senior Professionals (OP02), 9 Professionals (OP01) and 5 Juniors or Trainees (OP00) as demonstrated in the infographic below.
The survey shows an increased headcount within the average operations team. Last year there were concerns that the average team was shrinking which would cause a future skills gap, however, the numbers have increased this year and as a result, those fears can subside.
Gender Split
Since the collection of data on gender in the survey, there hasn’t been much change within this job family. That said, there has been a small increase in the number of females (4%) reported this year, and a total split within the sample of 36% female employees and 63% male.
However, there was a shift in the seniority level this year. With a 5% drop in female employees who reached the Head of Department or Director level (OP04) positions in 2023 compared to 2022, making up for just 9% in total.
Location Split
The USA and Denmark which are traditionally considered major maritime hubs are still paying the highest remuneration packages at most seniority levels.
Tanker companies continue to pay the highest base salaries out of all vessel types and dry bulk companies remain consistent in their remuneration packages year-on-year (closely followed by their tanker counterparts at most job levels.)
Commercial operations staff working for oil majors, commodity or mining groups continue to enjoy the highest base salaries, bonuses, and total compensation packages.
Members of Spinnaker’s Maritime HR Association are entitled to receive detailed analysis, such as this, as part of their membership package.
