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The maritime industry in the UAE is set to grow enormously in the next decade. In this special report we look at what is being done to ensure Emiratis are not being left behind.
Emiratisation - a movement by the UAE government to proactively employ its citizens in the public and private sectors to reduce the country's dependence on foreign workers.
Even though the maritime industry has enjoyed a long and noble tradition in the UAE, the astonishing alacrity with which it has grown over the past two decades reflects the growth of the country as a whole. With such growth comes an obvious need for highly trained workers with very specific skills.
With such local employees being in such short supply, the unemployment gap has needed to be filled - which is where the millions of expatriate workers come in.
Although unemployment is still very low in the UAE (the latest figures say 2.6%), the number of Emiratis out of work is disproportionately large (estimates vary from between 5-7%).
A number of arguments have been put forward as reasons for this and while some of them are valid, such as a lack of suitable training, excellent unemployment benefits and a preference to work within the public sector, others have perpetuated lazy stereotypes and resulted in exacerbating the problems facing Emiratis looking for work within the private sector even further - hence the need for the UAE government to initiate the Emiratisation programme.
While compliance to Emiratisation is relatively straightforward for other business sectors, the maritime industry has always been hindered by many different factors such as a lack of specialist skills, limited local training facilities and the image it has with Emirati students. This has resulted in there being a dearth of Emiratis working within the industry.
Indeed, the vast majority of the companies contacted had no Emirati workers at all, although all of them stress that they would welcome UAE nationals into their workforce. Mike Lumley is Shell Marine's regional general manager.
His support for the Emiratisation programme was unequivocal. "Shell Marine in Dubai has a fairly clear target in terms of employing Emirati nationals," he says. "We are looking to achieve and exceed those targets."
"It's a very competitive market place," Lumley continues. "And we have seen in the last couple of years that the competition for talent has become more intense. But we regularly benchmark the terms and conditions that we offer to all employees with the aim of being able to attract and retain Emirati talent."
DP World is another company gaining a good reputation in its attempts to attract UAE nationals. The company recently conducted a summer training programme at its headquarters in Jebel Ali for 56 Emirati students. It gave them some invaluable vocational work experience.
"DP World intro-duces a number of initiatives and programmes periodically to stimulate the Emiratisation process, attract outstanding and well-qualified nationals and upgrade the national employees' skills and performance," says a spokesperson for the company.
With no maritime colleges in close proximity to the UAE, gaining qualifications has always meant travelling overseas (usually to the UK or Australia). This has caused problems in the past as many students have opted to study much closer to home.
However, the Emirates International Maritime Academy (EIMA) aims to address this problem. Set in the heart of Dubai Maritime City (DMC) and part of the DMC campus, the EIMA will offer Emiratis the opportunity to receive some of the best maritime training available anywhere in the world.
Due to open in 2010, the EIMA is to be run by Singaporean maritime expert Captain Ja'afar Bin Sidin and Emirati Captain Abdullah Al Hayyas.
Captain Bin Sidin started his career as a deck cadet in 1971 with Ocean Fleets Ltd in Liverpool, England, and brings with him a wealth of experience to his position of director of the EIMA - experience that he is eager to pass on to the Emirati maritime professionals of the future.
"Education of future seafarers is something we'd like to start for the people of the UAE," he says. "We will offer short courses as well as graduate programmes in maritime science - calibrated with foreign universities. The EIMA forms part of the DMC campus and it is our aim to make this a world-class training facility."
