2025 will see fewer but better hires in commercial shipping

Paul Ratcliffe provides readers with highlights from Ignition Global’s 2024 Commercial Shipping Leaders Survey.

Hiring in commercial shipping should be getting easier. The talent war of 2021–22 has ended, and dry bulk bonuses are cooling. Inflation has eased, remuneration policies have adjusted, and salary expectations have mellowed—making compensation easier to manage. And yet 40% of leaders say hiring is harder than ever.

Why? Because the challenge isn’t just about filling roles anymore. It’s about making the right hires in an industry that’s transforming faster than ever.

The hiring mindset has to change

For the first time, shipping leaders say finding people with the right attitude is harder than finding technical skills.

A chartering director put it bluntly to me the other day: “I can teach a smart hire the market. I can’t teach them to stop waiting for an email and actually pick up the phone.”

The challenge?

Many leaders are trying to hire younger versions of themselves. Those professionals exist, but they are few and far between—and likely to have already been moulded in another company’s culture.

Junior hires will never join as the finished article. The best young professionals need training, coaching, and investment. If you want them to succeed, you have to develop them—attitude and skills.

Hiring a ‘safe’ candidate is often a smart move—but sticking to the same talent strategy just because it’s familiar is a risk. In an industry undergoing regulatory, technological, and commercial transformation, firms that don’t adapt will be left behind.

Fewer hires, better hires

Permanent hiring is more selective and interim specialists are on the rise. In this market, every hiring decision matters more.

With dry bulk struggling, tankers coming off a high, and gas and container facing a wave of newbuilds, firms are becoming more cost-conscious about who they hire.

We’re seeing a shift toward quality over quantity—fewer hires, but more strategic ones. Complementing the high calibre carefully selected future leaders, interim specialists are delivering critical expertise exactly when it’s needed.

Our survey shows widespread openness to interim hires for highly specialised roles including digitalisation, decarbonisation, and regulatory experts. We are also seeing more demand for interim technical and commercial management leaders—companies looking for deep expertise without committing to a permanent hire.

AI in hiring

In our survey, 86% of leaders believe AI will transform shipping in the next five years.

AI is changing what top performers bring to the table. The best people won’t be replaced. They’ll adapt and work differently.

AI-driven analytics will make decision-making more data-heavy—meaning firms need people who can interpret, challenge, and act on AI-driven insights.

Automation will reshape the skill sets needed in chartering, operations, and commercial decision-making.

The best hires will know the market, adapt to change, and keep learning to stay ahead. 

Some firms are adapting—hiring fewer, but better people and supplementing their leadership teams with interim specialists. Others are waiting for things to go back to normal. They won’t. How companies hire today will determine who leads shipping tomorrow.