A marine engineer and ship’s engineer with more than 10 years of experience explains why the world’s fleet is now willing to pay technical specialists more, and what’s been changing in the profession in recent years.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and shipowners, through the International Bargaining Forum (IBF), have agreed to raise wages for more than 250,000 seafarers. Under the agreement, pay will increase by 6%, marking one of several steps toward revising working conditions across the global maritime industry.
“To many people, 6% might sound like a modest raise. But for the maritime industry, it’s a significant step, especially considering that for a long time, pay changes came slowly while working conditions remained among the toughest out there,” says Viktor Genkulov, a marine engineer and ship’s engineer at the international company SIFSERVICE L.T.D.
Viktor is an expert in the technical reliability and safety of shipboard systems. He received the “Znak Yakosti Ukraine” (Ukraine Quality Mark) award in 2021 and served on the award’s expert panel in 2022. He has worked his way up from entry-level positions in the maritime industry to a role overseeing the operation and modernization of complex shipboard systems, having served on vessels of various types across different routes.
Using Viktor Genkulov’s professional experience as a lens, this article looks at how attitudes toward the seafaring profession are changing, why the industry is short on experienced specialists, and why rising wages are just one step toward building a more sustainable, technologically advanced fleet.
The backdrop to change
According to Viktor Genkulov, seafarers’ work has long been undervalued, even though maritime shipping accounts for more than 80% of global trade. Even efforts to improve pay in the industry have historically been limited. In 2018, for instance, the minimum wage for a qualified seafarer was revised: the rate rose by 4.5%, from $614 to $641 a month, phased in over three years. But that change applied only to the minimum pay level for ratings and didn’t touch higher-skilled specialists, including ship’s engineers and mechanics.
“Shipowners could raise wages with a clear conscience, or not, because technically the requirements for raising the minimum rate didn’t apply to technical specialists. But our level of responsibility remained enormous,” Viktor Genkulov shares.
He was recognized with the national “Znak Yakosti Ukraine” (Ukraine Quality Mark) award for ensuring the technical reliability and safe operation of shipboard systems. Notably, the award has existed since 2012, but engineers in his field were rarely nominated for it in the past, even though they’re the ones responsible for the ship’s key systems and have a direct impact on crew safety, cargo integrity, and the vessel’s overall reliability.
The upside of the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the picture dramatically. It became clear just how much the global economy depends on seafarers: without them, there’s no way to deliver food, fuel, medicine, industrial raw materials, and other vital cargo. With borders closed, thousands of seafarers couldn’t disembark on time, and many spent months longer at sea than their contracts called for, since crew changes simply weren’t possible.
Viktor himself was working at SifService L.T.D. during the pandemic. According to him, boarding a ship turned into a multi-step process: seafarers had to get vaccinated and obtain the necessary certificates. In his case, though, the company urgently needed a strong specialist, so he was allowed to board after a negative COVID test.
After every port departure, an inspector or doctor would come aboard to check the health of the entire crew and take everyone’s temperature. If even one seafarer ran a fever, the ship could be quarantined until the cause was determined, even if it later turned out to be nothing more than a common cold.
The psychological toll was especially hard. “Seafarers weren’t allowed ashore. Imagine waiting months for a port call, hoping for even a brief change of scenery, and then not being able to leave the ship. For some, that isolation lasted six months; for others, even longer. When every day passes in a confined space with the same people, you get irritable, and the fatigue and emotional strain build up,” Viktor Genkulov recalls. What helped him get through that period were his years of experience at sea, discipline, and an understanding of how crucial a well-coordinated crew is during a crisis.
After the pandemic, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and many governments began pushing for seafarers to be recognized as key workers. That period marked the first time in a long while that questions of working conditions, pay, and attracting new talent moved to the forefront. But the industry soon ran into a new problem: a shortage of qualified personnel.
Too few professionals
In Viktor Genkulov’s observation, the industry’s lack of professionals comes down to the difficulty of keeping young seafarers in the profession long enough to gain real experience. After graduation, new specialists rarely land jobs at major international companies right away. Typically, they start their careers on less prestigious vessels, in junior positions. Early contracts pay modestly, the work is physically and psychologically demanding, and there’s often no income between voyages. To earn more, many try to spend as much time at sea as possible, with little rest.
“That kind of pace burns people out fast. Even well-educated specialists often leave the profession before reaching the point where their experience starts to pay off. So the market keeps filling up with newcomers, while the number of qualified engineers and mechanics stays low. Becoming that kind of specialist takes years of practice, continuous learning, and a willingness to take on serious responsibility,” Viktor Genkulov explains.
He went through that same path himself. He started his career as an engine room cadet, worked on river-sea class vessels, and, as he puts it, never turned down a job, understanding that hands-on experience was an engineer’s most valuable asset. Over time, that let him move from routine tasks to more complex management responsibilities on modern vessels.
When management doesn’t respond
So while raising wages is certainly an important step, indexation alone can’t solve all of the industry’s accumulated problems, Viktor Genkulov believes. One serious challenge is timely vessel maintenance and shipowners’ willingness to respond quickly to specialists’ concerns.
“Sometimes a fault can seem minor. Some part fails, and at first glance it looks trivial. But in technical systems, it’s often exactly those small things that become the first link in a chain that can lead to much more serious consequences,” the expert shares from experience. The core principle he follows in his work is not to wait for a problem to get worse, but to report it to management right away and push to get it fixed.
If management doesn’t respond, the best option is to file a formal complaint with the ITF. Following an inspection, the shipowner is required to fix any safety violations found, otherwise the vessel can be detained. “Of course, that’s a last resort, but I’d rather do that than put the crew at risk,” Viktor Genkulov explains his stance.
New technology takes resources
Under the new agreement, the IBF has also set up a working group focused on rolling out new technologies and transitioning to alternative fuels. But adopting new solutions is impossible without specialists who are ready to work with them and keep developing their skills. In Viktor Genkulov’s view, the industry needs to do more than just teach seafarers new skills; it also needs to create conditions that let them preserve the physical and psychological reserves that kind of work demands.
“New technology takes time, training, and room to adapt. You can’t just roll out new systems and expect the crew to immediately work with them efficiently. It all starts with the basics: safety, a reasonable work schedule, and the chance to actually learn,” the expert lists.
Over the course of his own career, he too has gradually mastered new technologies and approaches. Today, Viktor works on operating and modernizing ship power systems on international projects, including efforts to cut emissions and shift vessels toward cleaner fuels.
Is 6% actually enough?
At first glance, 6% might look like a modest number, especially set against inflation or the rising cost of life on land. But for seafarers, who have spent years watching their work go unnoticed, it’s not just about money. It’s a sign that attitudes toward the profession are changing.
“If seafarers are starting to get noticed in professional awards and paychecks, it means the system is finally shifting off dead center,” Viktor Genkulov believes. In his view, the industry’s next step is to keep raising pay while, in parallel, building conditions that let specialists grow, keep learning, and stay in the profession. After all, the future of the fleet depends, above all, on people, and “we’ll handle the new technology, no matter how complex it gets,” the expert promises.
