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Lauren Chan

Fred Lai

Hong Kong’s public transport sector is facing a manpower shortage, with the city’s passenger ferries being the hardest hit as working conditions become increasingly unattractive to youngsters.
Bearing the brunt of the manpower crisis, Star Ferry is facing an ageing workforce due to an inability to retain young recruits for more than a few months. The average age of a sailor is now 54 – and 58 for a coxswain.
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Despite a sharp 11 per cent wage increase this year, with sailors earning up to HK$13,000 a month and coxswains HK$25,000, about 15 per cent of staff jump ship every year for less strenuous jobs with similar salaries, such as welders and security guards.
In the next five years, 25 per cent of the 120 Star Ferry staff will reach retirement age.
The entire passenger ferry sector faces a manpower shortage of about 50 per cent in five years, from coxswain to sailor. In all, there will be at least 330 vacancies.
Even transport minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung admits manpower supply for the shipping sector is a problem. “Within the shipping industry and Marine Department there is a shortage of labour ,” Cheung told lawmakers.
For young people, the long shifts and heavy manual labour involved in work at sea are not appealing when there are other options in the market. “Youngsters want money and a comfortable environment. For seafarers, their job duties require them to work in a stuffy environment with a great deal of physical work,” explained Kwok Cho-ta, assistant chief coxswain at Star Ferry.
Star Ferry operations manager Samson Leung believes a large part of the problem stems from a lack of promotion by the government of this “twilight industry”, as youngsters know little about a career at sea and their parents perceive it as the work of the lower classes.
“It’s natural that the industry is shrinking because society pays little attention to economic activities at sea”, Hong Kong Seamen’s Union president Li Chi-wai said.

Despite the HK$100 million maritime and aviation training fund launched by the government in 2014, meaning every coxswain in training receives a subsidy of HK$30,000, the fund has been of little benefit to the local ferry industry.
According to the Transport Bureau, among the 1,800 who have received subsidies since 2014, fewer than 50 were local crew seeking work at sea, while the others were university students pursuing marine degrees for other purposes.
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Other forms of public transport face similar problems. Cheung said there were 220,000 holders of taxi licences but only 40,000 active drivers. He said the city’s 18,000 taxis could accommodate 14,000 more drivers. “The main issue faced by the trade is difficulty in attracting new entrants, especially the young,” Cheung said.
Government statistics show that the average age of taxi drivers is as high as 57, with a manpower shortage of at least 10 per cent among night cabbies.
“The grassroots image and unstable income of taxi drivers make it more difficult to attract new blood to the industry,” said Ng Kwan-sing, president of the Taxi Dealers and Owners’ Association. “Young people don’t see a future in being a taxi driver. That’s as bad as it is.”
He urged the government to introduce training courses for young drivers and establish a management network of taxi drivers to allow room for the young to get promotion rather than merely driving cabs.
The bus industry also echoed Ng’s opinions. Wan Yu-hing, senior officer of the Kowloon Motor Bus workers’ union, said bad working conditions and relatively low salaries scared off young people.
“For a newcomer, you can only get HK$10,385 in basic monthly salary and you have to work over 12 hours a day in order to earn HK$18,000 per month,” the 59-year-old driver said.
According to Wan, the 12-hour shifts start at 2pm and 3am with a break of less than one hour. “For young people, the long working hours separate them from their social life and circle of friends, which make the job much more unattractive,” he said.
Frankie Yick Chi-ming, the legislator representing the transport sector, said greater promotion prospects and more educational activities were needed to change the public’s stereotype about transport workers so the labour shortage could be solved.
“All roads lead to Rome. The community should be aware that the transport industry is not as inferior and humble as it used to be,” Yick said.


Hong Kong youngsters shy away from transport jobs, with ferries facing severe manpower problems

Samson Leung (left) and Kwok cho-ta worry about a Star Ferry labour shortage. Photo: Lauren Chan

Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, attends RTHK Radio progamme at RTHK in Kowloon Tong. 05DEC15 SCMP/Edward Wong

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Hong Kong

Hong Kong economy

Those in the industry say efforts to bring in new staff falter on low wages and unsocial working hours
