NEW DELHI, Nov 23: Leading Germany-based ship management company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) today said that it is planning to expand operations in India and raise the headcount by 15-20 per cent by December next year.
“The current Key performance indicators (KPI) given to Delhi office and Chennai office is that a 15 per cent increase in the pool strength with regard to the seafarers annually. That is a realistic figure we felt given the past trends,” BSM India Deputy Director Sanklap Shukla told PTI.
BSM currently has 4,000 seafarers from India.
“Currently difficulty we are facing is that Indian Seafarers are in fact the highest paid seafarers in the world. If we are able to stagnate the wages don’t start increasing the wages all over again then we are looking at substantial increase. It would even go to 20-25 per cent per annum,” Shukla said.
BSM India Director Swapan Paul said there is a great dearth of quality seafarers in the market and therefore the company’s primary focus would be on high-quality people in order to strengthen the workforce as well as the domestic shipping community.
Apart from hiring activities, he said, BSM India is also planning to add two ships to its existing fleet to commence operation on shore site in oil-field in the country.
BSM India, which has offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi and Patna, will set up as many as 5 satellite offices as part of its strategic plans to expand its footprint and business in the country.
“Going forward, we have plans to set up satellite offices in Northern and Southern India for increasing maritime services and providing convenience to seafarers in the country. We have identified Dehradun, Lucknow and Chandigarh for setting up satellite office in the first phase, while Vishakhapatnam and Hyderabad are on the radar for the second phase,” Shukla said.
“We expect to set up two satellite offices in the first half of 2015,” he added.
He said the satellite offices would help BSM India attract more seafarers to the company and create awareness about ship-based maritime engineering services in particular and the shipping industry in general.
Slight global trade recovery has helped BSM to expand business operations and activities in the country, he added.
Shukla said the direction and pace at which the government was moving to transform the domestic shipping sector would increase buoyancy and investment opportunities in timers to come.
BSM, which has a fleet of more than 600 ships of various types employs over 17,000 seafarers across the globe. (PTI)
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