While the maritime industry accounts for 20 percent of the country's economy, it still lacks highly qualified and experienced local mariners, according to a leading shipping company.
The maritime sector is currently the third-largest economic contributor to The Bahamas.
Marketing Officer at Campbell Shipping Norman Lightbourne told Guardian Business that despite having 40 Bahamians working onboard its 15-ship fleet, there is still a shortage of qualified Bahamians in the industry.
Lightbourne noted that three of the workers have achieved high ranks.  Two of them, Jamaal Johnson and Garnett Rolle, have become second officers, and another, Howard Bastian, has become a third engineer.
Salaries in the maritime industry can range anywhere from a cadet earning $1,000 to a chief officer earning over $7,000 per month.
"Cadets are paid to learn or undergo onboard training to become deck officers. They have to complete a cadet training manual to prepare them to assume 3rd officer duties after they would have passed the necessary examinations and received their officer of the watch license," according to Lightbourne.
This appeal for more Bahamian involvement in the industry comes after Campbell Shipping announced its involvement in the $20 million Bahamas Maritime Institute.  The initiative hopes to strengthen the sector and create hundreds of jobs.
Chandler Sands, the managing director of Campbell Shipping, told Guardian Business in January that far more education is needed for Bahamians to excel in this area.
"What we plan on doing is bringing that training home in an affordable way," Lightbourne said.  According to him it is a 36-month program that has to be completed before a cadet is eligible to do license exams.
After completing these exams and receiving an officer of the watch license, cadets can sail as third officers and earn approximately $4,000 per month.
"The third officer works closely with the chief officer onboard and is responsible for day-to-day maintenance of life saving and fire-fighting equipment onboard.  As a third officer you also do two to four hour watches per day," he said.
Usually after serving about 12 months onboard, Lightbourne revealed that a third officer is in the position to be directly promoted to second officer, which earns over $4,000 monthly.
"The second officer is responsible for the safe navigation of the vessel.  His duties include planning the safe voyages for the vessel to travel from port to ports all around the world, and ensuring all navigational charts and nautical publications are kept updated.  The second officer is also responsible for maintaining the medicine/medical logs onboard and has to keep a good inventory of all medical supplies," he added.
The next step for the second officer is to become a chief officer after 36 months of sea time as a deck officer.  Second officers can complete a three-month maritime management course and then sit an extensive examination for a chief mate/master license.
The chief officer rank is more of a managerial position, as opposed to second and third officers who work more on an operational level.  The chief officer is responsible for the overall safety and security of the vessel," said Lightbourne.
"One of his main responsibilities is also to develop loading and discharging plans for the cargo to be loaded and discharged when the ship arrives in port, and to ensure the ship is loaded properly, efficiently and safely," Lightbourne added.
"He is the person that is responsible for all the deck "ratings" on board the vessel and issues different tasks on a daily basis for the upkeep and maintenance of the ship."

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