Crewing Abbreviations
AB – Able Seamen
BOSUN – Boatswain
Btmn – Boatman
A/H – Anchor Handling
C – Captain
Cf M – Chief Mate
CTO – Crew Training Officer
DH – Deck Hand
J Eng – Junior Engineer
Mstr – Master
OS – Ordinary Seaman
Sig – Signalman
Sman – Seaman
QM – Quarter Master
RO – Radio Officer
STCW – Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping
Off – Officer
App – Apprentice
5 Off – 5th Officer
5 Eng – 5th Engineer
4 Off – 4th Officer
4 Eng – 4th Engineer
3 M – 3rd Mate
3 Eng – 3rd Engineer
2 M – 2nd Mate
2 Eng – 2nd Engineer
What does Crewing involve?
Shore-based crewing staff are responsible for organising the working lives of seafarers. It is the shore-based people that are the connectors to the people at sea. Crewing departments are found within shipowning and ship management companies. There are also specialist crewing agencies who provide staff to shipowners and ship managers.
Due to high demand and tight supply of seafarers (who specialise in specific vessel types), there has been an increased focus in recent years on the retention, training and development of seafarers.
Recruitment – You will be involved in ensuring that vessels are adequately staffed with qualified and competent crew members and in the sourcing, selection, interviewing, and hiring of personnel with the correct qualifications, vessel experience and correct rank while also adhering to regulations and employment laws.
Retention – Retaining staff is very important. It is important to be able to retain your staff by ensuring safety, offering competitive salaries, providing career path opportunities, good training and promoting a positive work environment as well as addressing concerns.
Scheduling – You will be involved in the scheduling, rostering, and managing the deployment of crew members to different vessels or assignments. You will work closely with other departments to keep up to date with new hires as well as ensure efficient crew operations and optimise resource utilisation.
Training and Development – The role is to prepare, educate and develop the skills of crew members to ensure they can perform their duties effectively and safely. You will keep training programmes up to date and, if you are actually a trainer as opposed to a generalist crewing person, you will deliver sessions and workshops along with demonstrations and simulations. Making sure crew members are up to date with safety training, protocols, risk strategies and more.
Opportunities – This involves performance monitoring to ensure you can identify potential and provide opportunities to crew members to advance their careers, develop new skills and take on new responsibilities within the organisation to promote a supportive and engaging work environment that motivates top talent.
Welfare – This involves providing a safe environment including the well-being, welfare, and overall quality of life of crew members. This means addressing the physical, mental, and emotional needs of the crew, promoting support services to address personal and social needs, promoting health and wellness services and ensuring there are leisure activities for the crew members. Crucially nowadays, it also means making sure crew members have internet access so they can keep in touch with family and friends.
Travel & Immobilisation – Coordinating and managing all aspects of travel arrangements for crew members to and from vessels.
Job Titles Involved in Crewing Departments
In order of Seniority
- Head of Crewing/Crewing Director/Fleet Personnel Director
- Fleet Personnel Manager/Regional Crewing Manager/Senior Manning Manager
- Learning and Development Manager – Senior Crew Training Manager
- Senior Executive Crewing/Deputy Manning Manager/Assistant Crewing Manager
- Assistant Training Manager/Senior Learning and Development Officer/Performance Management Supervisor
- Team Leader
- Crewing Officer/Manning Officer/ Payroll Officer/Marine Personnel Executive
- Crew Training Officer/Performance Executive
- Crewing Assistant/Fleet Personnel Administrator/Learning and Development Coordinator
