(Barbados Nation) The seafaring industry in Barbados is experiencing a “critical” manpower shortage and things can get worse.
Shipping superintendent in the Ministry of Labour, Walter Best, made this grim assessment on Saturday in an interview with the DAILY NATION.
“Indeed, by the year 2015 [the industry] may even reach crisis proportions,” he warned. “So now is a good time for Barbadians to acquire the type of training necessary.”
Best noted that Barbados was “the Mecca” for seafaring in the 1970s and 1980s, with more than 5 000 people working in the industry. He said seafarers from other islands came to Barbados to board ships as well.
