Yachts trending up, crew heading in

Yacht crew are moving onto bigger vessels, with the largest percentage of crew position jobs on offer being on vessels over 71 metres.

According to recent data from the Antibes recruitment firm YPI CREW, 39% of crew jobs being offered are on superyachts over 71 metres, this represents a 5% rise on figures in 2016. This is followed up closely by the 51 to 70 metre market – which has 32.2% of on-board yacht jobs on offer.

Against these figures, the number of positions on offer in the 31 to 50 metre market fell, with 29.8% of the market share, continuing the downwards trend from last year which saw a 5% drop off in 2016.

Registration records

Registration in 2017 was notably high, with 2017 seeing the second-highest number of captain registrations since YPI CREW started collecting the data in 2002, but the number of yacht captain job openings also fell. Yacht captain positions made up only 3.6% of the yacht crew market share last year, continuing the decline from last year’s 4.4% figure. With the number of captains registering but the demand for captian’s shrinking, this could potentially lead to a job shortage for captains if this trend continues over the next few years.

2017 also saw a record number of interior crew registering to work, with an almost 20% rise in registration last year over 2016. This is part of an overall trend for yacht crew registrations, which increased by 15% in 2017 and 37% over the last 24 months.

Laurence Lewis, director of YPI CREW, said: “2017 was a busy year with record numbers of jobs and crew registrations, which is the sign of a healthy industry. However, this positive big picture should not detract from the fact that the yachting employment market in remains tense with a great discrepancy between job offers and crew expectations and between required skills and skills available on the market.

“More than ever, the advice for employers is to work closely with well-established recruiters who know their markets well and to follow their advice. Already, 2018 has started on a fast pace, so here’s to a great season for all.”