Ghana is stepping up efforts to increase the number of its citizens working as seafarers on the global maritime labour market, Dr Kamal-Deen Ali, Director-General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, has said.
He said the move formed part of a broader strategy to tap into the growing global demand for maritime professionals while creating employment opportunities for young Ghanaians.
Dr Ali made the remarks at a media forum organised by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority in Tema.
According to him, the initiative has received strong support from John Dramani Mahama, who has expressed keen interest in strengthening the country’s seafaring sector.
Dr Ali explained that global trade depended heavily on shipping, noting that international commerce would struggle to function without maritime transport.
He said the maritime industry offered a wide range of employment opportunities along its value chain, including shipbuilding, ship management, maritime insurance, crewing and other support services.
Dr Ali noted that the global seafaring workforce currently stood at about 1.9 million people, comprising officers and ratings.
He explained that officers served as management-level personnel on vessels, while ratings handled operational and technical duties on board ships.
Despite the size of the industry, he said the geographical distribution of seafarers remained uneven. About 50 percent of the workforce comes from Asia, 33 percent from Europe, nine per cent from the Americas, and only about four to five per cent from Africa.
Dr Ali expressed concern that Ghana, despite its strong maritime heritage, was still producing relatively few seafarers.
He said the country currently had about 5,000 seafarers, ranking roughly fifth in Africa behind countries such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Morocco and Egypt.
According to him, Ghana was historically one of Africa’s leading maritime nations, having established a Nautical College in 1958 and operated the former Black Star Line.
Although the country had produced many skilled captains and maritime professionals over the years, he said the overall number of Ghanaian seafarers remained below its potential.
Dr Ali also highlighted the rising global demand for seafarers, noting that the industry currently faced a shortage of between 27,000 and 30,000 workers.
He said the gap could widen to about 90,000 by the end of the year if more countries did not increase their supply of trained maritime professionals.
He noted that Africa’s growing youth population positioned the continent to help fill part of the global shortage, stressing that Ghana must take advantage of the opportunity.
Dr Ali identified access to “sea time” as one of the major challenges facing Ghanaian maritime graduates.
Sea time refers to the practical training required at sea before maritime students can obtain professional certification.
He explained that cadets typically spend about four years studying at institutions such as the Regional Maritime University, after which they require about one year of sea time to qualify for certification from the GMA.
However, securing sea-time placements has often been difficult because shipping companies have limited space for trainees on their vessels.
To address the challenge, Dr Ali said the GMA had begun engaging international shipping companies directly to secure training placements for Ghanaian cadets.
He said the Authority was shifting from being solely a regulator to also playing a promotional role to support the development of Ghanaian seafarers.
The strategy, he noted, was already producing results, with several Ghanaian cadets securing placements with international shipping companies.
He said partnerships with global firms, including the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company, as well as a Saudi shipping company, had opened new opportunities for Ghanaian maritime trainees.
Although some of the placements initially involved only a small number of cadets, Dr Ali said they could pave the way for more opportunities once trainees demonstrated their competence.
He noted that cadets undertaking sea-time training typically receive monthly stipends ranging between 500 and 1,000 US dollars.
Dr Ali also revealed that the GMA was developing a comprehensive seafarer development programme to expand both training and placement opportunities for Ghanaian maritime students.
He expressed optimism that the initiative would significantly increase the number of Ghanaians working in the global maritime industry in the coming years.
Dr Ali assured that while the Authority was taking on a stronger promotional role to support seafarer development, its core regulatory responsibilities would remain intact.
He noted that Ghana had recently been recognised under the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control as the best-performing country in the West African sub-region for the quality of its port state control inspections.
