BIMCO and ICS Seafarer Workforce report Company questionnaire

SEAFARER WORKFORCE REPORT 2026

Questionnaire for Companies

BIMCO and ICS are preparing the Seafarer Workforce Report 2026, which aims to provide estimates of the global supply and demand for seafarers. It has traditionally been prepared every five years since 1990 and is the trusted source of information on the global situation related to seafarer training and ship’s crewing.

The Questionnaire for Companies aims to collect information for BIMCO and ICS to use in the preparation of the Seafarer Workforce Report 2026, specifically on operational crewing levels, the nationalities of seafarers, trends in the recruitment and retention of seafarers, identification of any shortages of seafarers qualified to serve in certain capacities or ship types, and other challenges that companies may be facing related to the training of seafarers and manning of their ships.

This questionnaire concerns the seafarers on board the ships operated by your company. If you do not employ or supply the seafarers that operate your ships, you may prefer to forward this questionnaire to the crew management companies responsible for the crewing of your ships.

This survey should take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

If you believe there is a more appropriate person/department in your company to answer this questionnaire, please forward the link to them, or please send us their contact details (marinesurveys@bimco.org).

Privacy and Data Protection

We will use the information provided to estimate the global supply and demand for seafarers, which will be reported in the Seafarer Workforce Report 2026.
We will not disclose your personal information to any third parties. BIMCO and ICS act as joint controllers for the data collected via Jotform and will process your information solely in accordance with this notice and our respective privacy policies.
All personal information collected on the JotForm will remain confidential and will be deleted upon completion of the project.
Until the report is published, all inputted data in response to the questions will remain strictly confidential to the project members of BIMCO and ICS.

BIMCO Privacy Policy

ICS Privacy Policy

Should you require assistance in completing the questionnaire, please do not hesitate to contact marinesurveys@bimco.org

Thank you for your time and effort in completing this questionnaire.

Name of your Company *

Location of Headquarters (select country)*

Q1. How would describe your Company's main activity?

Ship owner and operatorShip managerCrew manager

Q2. How many ships does your company own/manage and/or provide crew management services to? *

Number of ships

Q3. What type of ships (and how many) does your company operate? *

Q4. How many seafarers (officers) are employed to operate your ships? *

Q5. How many seafarers (STCW ratings) are employed to operate your ships? *

Operational crewing levels

Q6. What are the normal operational crewing levels for each of the ship types your company operates?

NB: Operational crewing levels means the actual crew complement of a ship which may not necessarily be the same as the minimum safe manning document (MSMD) of the ship specifies

Q 6a. General cargo ships (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6b. Bulk carriers (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6c. Container ships (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6d. Oil Tankers (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6e. Chemical Tankers (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6f. LPG Carriers (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6g. LNG Carriers (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6h. Offshore vessels (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6i. Passenger ships (cruise) (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6j. Passenger ships (ferry) (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6k. Others- Dry (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 6l. Others - Liquid (please provide average crewing levels for one ship in every category)*

Q 7. How have the normal operational crewing levels for each of the ship types operated by your company changed over the last five years? (Delete as appropriate and provide further detail)

Q 7a. General cargo ships

Q 7b. Bulk carriers

Q 7c. Container ships

Q 7d. Oil tankers

Q 7e. Chemical tankers

Q 7f. LPG Carriers

Q 7g. LNG Carriers

Q 7h. Offshore vessels

Q 7i. Passenger ships (cruise)

Q 7j. Passenger ships (ferry)

Q 7k. Others - Dry

Q 7l. Others - Liquid

Nationalities of Officers and Ratings

Q8. What are the main STCW nationalities of the officers that operate your ships and what are their contract length periods?*

Q9. What are the main STCW nationalities of the ratings that operate your ships and what are their contract length periods?*

Length of service periods and Back-up Ratios

Q10. What are the normal Back-up Seafarer Ratios for each of the ship types operated by your company today?

Back up Seafarers – For every ship type, please mention the number of seafarers who are ashore and ready to replace the ones on board.

Example – General Cargo Ships, the number of seafarers at sea is 20 and number of seafarers ashore and ready to join ships is 10. In this case, Seafarer at sea is 20 and the back-up seafarer is 10

Example – LNG Ships, the number of seafarers at sea is 22 and number of seafarers ashore and ready to join ships is 15. In this case, Seafarer at sea is 22 and the back-up seafarer is 15

Q.10a. General Cargo ship - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10b. Bulk carriers - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10c. Container ships - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10d. Oil Tankers - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10e. Chemical Tankers - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10f. LPG Carriers - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10g. LNG Carriers - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10h. Offshore vessels - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10i. Passenger ships (cruise) - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10j. Passenger ships (ferry) - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10k. Others - Dry - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Q.10l. Others - Liquid - Please input your answer as average for one ship*

Recruitment and Retention

Q11. How many officers have you employed over the past 5 years?

Input a number

Q 11a. How many of these officers are women?

Input a number

Q12. How many officers have you employed in 2025?

Input a number

Q 12a. How many of these officers are women?

Input a number

Q13. How easy or difficult do you find it to employ an officer or rating for one of your ships from outside your company (external candidate)? *

	Very easy	Easy	Moderate / Neutral	Difficult	Very difficult	Not Applicable
Officers
Ratings

Q14. How easy or difficult do you find it to employ for the following positions (excluding internal promotion):? *

	Very easy	Easy	Moderate / Neutral	Difficult	Very difficult	Not Applicable
Deck Officers - Management level
Deck Officers - Operational level
Engineering Officers - Management level
Engineering Officers - Operational level
Electro-technical Officers - Operational level
Other Officers (eg. Dual purpose Officers) - Management or Operational level
Deck Ratings
Engine Ratings
Electro Technical Ratings

Q 15. What do you consider to be the biggest hurdle in finding the right candidate ?

STCW certification and relevant special certificates / endorsementsExperience in generalExperience on a specific ship typeOn the job competency (ship handling, technical knowledge etc)Other aspects ( soft skills, integrity, uprightness etc)Other

Q 16. What is your general impression of the quality of seafarers ?

The quality of seafarers is getting betterThe quality of seafarers is getting worseNo significant change in the quality of seafarersOther

Q 16a. If the quality of seafarers is getting worse, please advise if there are any actions that you are taking in order to address this issue?

Q17. How many officer cadets/ rating trainees have you employed over the past 5 years?

Q17a. Officer cadets: *

Input a number

Q17b. Rating trainees:*

Input a number

Q18. How many of these cadets/trainees are women?

Q 18a. Officer cadets : *

Input a number

Q 18b. Rating trainees:*

Input a number

Q19. How many officers have left your employment over the past 5 years?

Input a number

Q20. How many officers left your employment in 2025?

Input a number

Outlook related to supply and demand of seafarers

21. Do you foresee any challenges affecting the supply of officers and/or ratings required on board a specific type of ship that you operate?

Please input your answer for one ship, for every ship type.

Q22.If you are starting to look at other seafarer supply countries than those you are already using, what would those be and why?*

Q23.Do you foresee an increase/decrease in demand (crewing) of the number of officers/ratings on board your ships in future? *

African Seafarers

Q24.The following questions deal with African seafarers. Please answer if these are applicable to you, else, please choose N/A

Q 24a. Do you cooperate with MET institutions on the African Continent? If yes, please elaborate

Q 24b. Do you employ African seafarers*

YesNot now, but we are considering employing them in futureNo, and we do not have short or mid-term plans of employing them

Q 24c. If you consider employing them in future, please provide details

Are you willing to be contacted if BIMCO / ICS have further questions for your company ?

YesNo

Name

First NameLast Name

Please state your position?

Please state your contact address

example@example.com

Phone Number

Area CodePhone Number

Do you have other comments you want to share?

Feel free to add general question to the entire questionnaire