Korean shipping companies see a rise in foreign workers amid labor shortage

[Image source: Gettyimagesbank]

South Korea’s shipping industry, which is responsible for 99.8 percent of the country’s trade volume, is seeing a decline in the number of local engineers, mainly due to the challenging work environment as workers often spend a significant period of the year at sea.

According to the Korea Marine Officers’ Association on Sunday, the number of foreign marine officers at local shipping companies has increased by 44 percent over the past five years to 3,596 in 2022 from 2,498 in 2018.

The number of Korean marine officers, on the other hand, fell by 1,095. Marine officers, including navigators and engineers, are professionals with the necessary technical licenses for ship operations.

The workload intensity for Korean marine officers is relatively high compared to those in advanced countries. In Korea, marine officers receive one month of paid leave for every three months of onboard duty.

In contrast, the U.K. is known to offer three months of paid leave for every three months of onboard duty, and Japan two months of paid leave for every four months of onboard duty.

The absolute compensation for Korean marine officers is not necessarily low.

According to the shipping industry, the monthly wage of a third-class navigator/engineer, which is equivalent to a recent college graduate, is usually in the low 4 million won ($3,029) range.

A first-class navigator/engineer with 7~8 years of experience, who is equivalent to the manager of a general company, earns around 7 million won. Currently, marine officers also enjoy a tax-free benefit of 36 million won a year.

To improve the working conditions for local marine officers, the Korean government plans to raise the tax-free benefit to 60 million won a year and introduce satellite communication systems, which will enable them to enjoy high-speed internet access at sea.