NOWHERE has the skills shortage been felt as acutely as in the market for technical / shipmanagement staff. Chief engineers in particular have been the one thing that every single shipowner and shipmanager has been desperate for this decade…

CHRISTMAS is a time for giving, a time for friends and a time for reflection…

SPINNAKER has been a supporter of Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the Anthony Nolan Trust for some years…

THIS gathering of marine personnel folk is always an interesting event and all the more so this year because we heard from some amazing seafarers at both ends of the career spectrum…

Two views on our current predicament…

THE 2010 BIMCO/ISF Manpower Study on the worldwide demand for and supply of seafarers, is under way. Phil Parry was delighted to be asked again to sit on the Steering Committee, so wearing that hat he is asking for your help…

Spinnaker get phone calls every day of the week – they're often disgruntled – from people asking this very question who are upset that the bloke sitting next to them earns 20% more than they do…

THERE ARE still thirteen P&I Clubs in the International Group…just! If you think that sounds not exactly like a headline, you are readily forgiven. But think of it another way. This last year, six members of the International Group of P&I Club made unbudgeted calls on their own members to the tune of some $500m. Without that the IG would have suffered a total shortfall of $1bn. That's right ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!

A visitor to shippingjobs.com found our advice on employers' rights when dealing with recruitment consultancies…