Superyacht crew recruiting specialists YPI Crew have released their annual Crew Report for 2021. The report gives an overview of key figures in the yacht crew recruitment market. It highlights strong growth seen in the yacht crew recruitment sector, over the last year including a 45% increase in job requests.
In 2021 the company played a key role in getting crew back to work on yachts whilst also delivering a robust financial performance for shareholders of the Schulte Group who own the company.
After the economic contraction of 2020, the company entered 2021 with a strong will to grow and by the end of the year, it had increased its own work force in Antibes by over a third in order to meet the growing demand for crew.
As far as 2021 activity was concerned the company recorded a 45% increase in job requests from 2020 to 2021 and 13% from pre-pandemic 2019 to 2021.
The segments with the sharpest growth were the Chef and Stew departments, both registering a 57% rise in job orders, followed by the Engineering department with a 50% increase.
The demand for deckhands and bosuns grew by 32% and another 3% for senior Deck Officers. Captain jobs saw a healthy increase of 20% fuelled by a vibrant brokerage market.
With regards to the split between private and charter yachts, figures are extremely consistent with the annual report confirming that the past years; 61% are private and 39% are on charter yachts
Some 94% of all jobs were on motor yachts and 6% on sailing yachts, again, totally aligned with previous years.
Another consistent percentage shown up by the annual report is the size of vessels; 39% of all our jobs are on yachts 71-meters or above and 32% on yachts between 51 and 70-meters.
Parallel to the buoyant job market, new crew registration was also at an all time high with almost 8,000 new crew registering from all over the world.
The annual report shows this represents a 9% increase from 2020 which was already a busy year.
Looking forward, 2022 has started on a strong note with the month of January already showing an 80% increase in job requests from January 2021.
2022 will see YPI Crew celebrating 20 years of trading with further plans to develop the company through partnerships and acquisitions.
Company President Laurence Lewis said ‘2021 was the year of revival for the yachting industry with all key economic indicators turning green. YPI CREW came through the pandemic stronger and this was thanks to our formidable recruiters and employees who showed great agility and adaptability and I would like to record my thanks to them all. YPI CREW will remain focused on its growth strategy and on delivering the best possible service to our crew and clients who put their trust in us.’
She added, ‘We believe that Captains will rely on the sound advice of knowledgeable recruiters, who understand the market, have a voice and can advise appropriately and we also believe that our core values of Trust and Partnership are relevant now more than ever.’
Listed on the French national register for seafarer recruitment and placement services the company was integrated into the commercial shipping Schulte Group in 2018, and pursued growth by acquiring the recruitment division of Edmiston Company in 2019. A Lloyd’s Register audited business, YPI CREW works in accordance with MLC 2006 to ensure that seafarers have access to an efficient and well-regulated recruitment and placement system.