Acute shortage of marine engineers

2013-11-21

There is a shortage of marine engineers in Denmark and there are too few under education. This affects among other Odense Maritime Technology ( OMT ) and other ship companies. OMT currently employ five new employees a month and are looking for qualified engineers.

"We have a hard time getting marine engineers and also mechanical engineers and electrical engineers. Luckily we got a nucleus of former Odense Steel engineers , but it's hard to get more Danish engineers , "says CEO Kari Groes Christiansen to ing.dk.

OMT 's suppliers have already started to get engineers from abroad. The lack of marine engineers are also commented by Knud E. Hansen Naval Architects of Elsinore. The firm has recruited staff from Italy, Spain and Australia.

" Almost half of our 45 employees are foreigners. We feel the lack of marine engineers sharply. Our politicians talk gloriously about the Blue Denmark. But actually we do not have as much knowledge in Denmark on the ship engineering. It begins to crumble , "says director Finn Wollesen Petersen, Knud E. Hansen Naval Architects .

The maritime industry did include attention to the shortage of qualified engineers in 2011 in the report " Future maritime engineering education ' . This led to earmarking more resources to higher education in the field . Ship Engineering education was upgraded at DTU, while the University of Southern Denmark in Odense were allowed to establish education cand.tech . in maritime technology .

However, it is not an education in ship design , but it is directed towards operation of ships. Cand.tech. program will debut in September 2014.

Marie Lützen , associate professor at the University of Southern understood has an explanation reason for the poor search for marine engineering in recent years.

" The industry has been a little dusty for many years. There has been shut yards, and then people thought that shipbuilding was a dying profession. But although yards are closed , ship consultants and companies still need many talented naval architects , "says Marie Lützen to ing.dk

A number of companies within the maritime industry has begun to offer student jobs within the area. The companies , including Force Technology , MAN Diesel & Turbo and OSK- ShipTech , hoping to attract more engineers to the industry.

Source from : Lng.dk/Maritime Denmark

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