LNG seafarer availability projections study

Introduction

• The client is a major multinational exploration and production energy company, with LNG liquefaction interests throughout the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions and together with partners is chartering vessels to support its trading interest.

Client Objectives

• To support the continued growth of the business, the client wanted to understand the impact of the fast-growing LNG shipping fleet on availability of suitably trained officers to crew these vessels over a 7-year period.

Drewry Approach

Drewry’s team, made up of LNG shipping and crewing experts, conducted the work in four stages:

1.     LNG liquefaction capacity projections

2.     LNG fleet projections

3.     Demand projections by LNG officer rank

4.     LNG officer availability projections

• The study also developed long term forecasts for LNG officer wage rates to evaluate the impact of projected availability.
• The crewing team applied manning best practice to develop mitigation options for best managing officer availability issues.

Results Achieved

• Drewry identified the extent of any future LNG officer availability based on its projections for liquefaction capacity, LNG fleet, officer demand by rank and availability, combining both theoretical projection against three demand scenarios and practical evaluation, including detailed justification for the projections and conclusions
• The client received practical options for mitigating any tight labour market conditions and Drewry provided an impact assessment of future officer availability on wage inflation.
• The client was able to use Drewry’s report to plan its crewing requirements for LNG vessels due to come on charter