Seafarers in the UK Shipping Industry: 2020
UK seafarers statistics on active at sea and non-UK seafarers qualified to work on UK registered vessels in 2020.
Documents
Details
In 2020, statistics show:
- an estimated 22,970 UK seafarers were active at sea
- around half of the total UK seafarers active at sea were working as Officers (11,050 Certificated and 1,210 Uncertificated)
- there were 9,060 Ratings active at sea, this is stable from 2019
- there were 1,660 Officer Cadets in training, with 750 entrants under the SMarT1 scheme
- the majority of UK seafarers active at sea were male (83%), with most female seafarers working as Uncertificated Officers or as Ratings.
To note for 2020 figures:
While seafarers part of the UK Shipping Industry in 2020 may have been placed on furlough due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, these will still be included in Chamber of Shipping employment (CoS) figures and MCA certificate data and thus be represented as ‘active at sea’ in this data. CoS UK seafarer employment figures are stable compared to 2019, suggesting seafarers included in this data are active at sea or could be on furlough.
A slight rounding error has been identified in table SFR0101 and revised. The total UK seafarers active at sea has been changed from 22,980 to 22,970. This figure now matches the statistical release and the revision does not affect any trends.
These annual statistics are compiled from certification data held by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and data collected via the UK Chamber of Shipping Seafarer Employment Survey. Further details of the coverage of the statistics, uses and limitations can be found in the statistical release.
We welcome any feedback you have on this release via email to maritime statistics.
Contact us
Maritime and shipping statistics
Email maritime.stats@dft.gov.uk
Maritime statistics enquiries 020 7944 4847
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878