The Government has announced an $8.3 million investment to boost training opportunities for New Zealand seafarers as it looks to strengthen the country’s coastal shipping workforce and supply chain resilience.
Associate Transport Minister James Meager says the funding from the Coastal Shipping Resilience Fund will support trainee places on domestic vessels, known as training berths.
“Our local seafaring industry is under significant pressure. Many experienced seafarers are nearing retirement, and strong competition from international shipping, combined with thin margins make it difficult for Kiwi operators to train replacements,” Meager says.
“These ongoing issues are threatening the long-term resilience of our coastal freight services.”
The funding will help domestic vessel operators cover the cost of training new entrants, including wages, food, travel, course fees and personal protective equipment.
Meager says increasing the number of training berths is critical because maritime training requires time at sea before trainees can enter the workforce.
“Maritime schools can provide the required vocational training, but without training berths for sea time, trainees can’t enter the workforce,” he says.
He says the investment will help build a pipeline of skilled workers including seafarers, engineers and deck officers, while also supporting wider maritime roles such as port pilots, tug operators, harbourmasters and ship surveyors.
The minister says recent events, including Cyclone Gabrielle, highlighted the importance of a resilient coastal shipping sector when road and rail links are disrupted.
“In many cases the only way to deliver essential supplies is by sea, due to road and rail links being cut off,” Meager says.
“However, those vessels can only operate if they have skilled, qualified seafarers to staff them.”
The Maritime Union of New Zealand has welcomed the funding, describing it as a major step toward rebuilding the country’s maritime capability.
Union national secretary Carl Findlay says the funding follows a long campaign to address the shortage of training opportunities at sea.
“For years, we have warned that our ageing maritime workforce and a lack of training spaces were a ticking time bomb for our supply chain resilience. Today, the Government has acted on the solutions we put on the table,” Findlay says.
The project will be overseen by a joint panel made up of the Maritime Union, the New Zealand Shipping Federation and the New Zealand Marine Transport Association, which will identify training opportunities and assess applications from vessel operators.
Findlay says strengthening the domestic maritime workforce is vital for national resilience.
“We’ve seen that in a crisis, international shipping giants can walk away from our ports at any time. We need our own ships and our own crews to keep New Zealand moving,” he says.
“This funding is a vital first step in rebuilding the Blue Highway that our island nation depends on.”
It follows another recent Government announcement that $3 million from the Coastal Shipping Resilience Fund will be invested to upgrade the Rangitata, a vessel that played a critical role delivering disaster relief after Cyclone Gabrielle.
