{"id":63219,"date":"2023-01-04T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/01\/04\/how-the-new-zealand-navy-plans-to-fix-its-sailor-and-ship-shortfalls\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:48:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:48:02","slug":"how-the-new-zealand-navy-plans-to-fix-its-sailor-and-ship-shortfalls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2023\/01\/04\/how-the-new-zealand-navy-plans-to-fix-its-sailor-and-ship-shortfalls\/","title":{"rendered":"How the New Zealand Navy plans to fix its sailor and ship shortfalls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WELLINGTON, New Zealand \u2014 A third of Royal New Zealand Navy ships are docked<\/a> due to a shortage of sailors, causing a loss of \u201csignificant flexibility,\u201d the service\u2019s top officer told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the 279-foot offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington became the third ship to enter a period of idleness, joining the Navy\u2019s other offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Otago and one of the two remaining 180-foot inshore patrol vessels, HMNZS Hawea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other six ships are two Anzac-class frigates, HMNZS Te Kaha and HMNZS Te Mana; one inshore patrol vessel, HMNZS Taupo; one replenishment ship, HMNZS Aotearoa; one sealift ship, HMNZS Canterbury; and one hydrographic ship, HMNZS Manawanui.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have lost significant flexibility,\u201d said Rear Adm. David Proctor, \u201cand we have lost the ability to undertake a number of concurrent activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u201cI wouldn\u2019t describe it as a catastrophe,\u201d he added. \u201cWe are still able to deliver the expectation of government from an agreed-outputs point of view. Having a third of the fleet alongside is certainly less than ideal. I would love to be able to offer New Zealand and the government more options to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short said putting the Wellington dockside would free up engineering personnel amid workforce attrition. Placing a ship into care and custody will consolidate the workforce and allow better management of the effects of attrition, he argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy currently has funding for 2,230 people, but Proctor said the service\u2019s ideal end strength is about 2,340. As of Nov. 30, it had 2,117 in service, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service has \u201coften struggled\u201d to hit recruitment targets, Proctor noted, with the group coming in next year representing half of the service\u2019s goal. Part of the problem is the highly competitive labor market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the current attrition rate of 16.5% can be arrested, it is expected [that we] will have sufficient sailors to operate the rest of the fleet,\u201d a Navy spokesperson told Defense News. \u201cHowever, there remains a level of uncertainty until this attrition rate is reversed. This requires a number of initiatives to take effect, including addressing the widening gap between our sailor remuneration and what the highly competitive job market is offering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the Navy\u2019s two frigates are still operating \u2014 a ship type Proctor said can respond quicker than offshore patrol vessels and carry more personnel. But using frigates in place of OPVs means \u201cI then don\u2019t have a frigate to respond to whatever else may occur in the region,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Royal New Zealand Navy has funding for 2,230 people. (New Zealand Defence Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom [the] ability to undertake surveillance and reconnaissance, we\u2019re not perceiving any issues, but at this point there isn\u2019t a ship able to undertake enforcement. With HMNZS Aotearoa, we can certainly be present \u2026 but until we have a dedicated ship that can operate in ice, or very near to ice, we are unable to undertake that enforcement activity within the Southern Ocean and the Ross Sea. So there\u2019s a policy gap at the moment; I am unable to meet the government\u2019s direction,\u201d Proctor added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at New Zealand\u2019s Otago University, described the idle ships as a \u201cworrying\u201d development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have one of the biggest exclusive economic zones in the world, quite a lot of marine resources to protect, and this is just not the time when we should be signaling or indicating that we are weakening our capabilities in maritime security,\u201d he told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond New Zealand\u2019s local waters, he added, the country has an obligation to neighboring Pacific islands, which absorb \u201cabout 60% of our overseas development aid and has been defined, particularly by this government, but by successive governments, as our major priority in foreign policy terms and security terms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the country should not assume its allies will fill the gap, and the government ought to consider raising its defense expenditure, Patman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been spending about 1.5% of [gross domestic product]. … If we were spending more … then we could support the Navy to get it into a situation that it is operationally more capable than it is at the moment,\u201d he added. \u201cAll governments have problems of conflicting financial demands. It\u2019s just a question of whether we are going to bite the bullet \u2014 in a very troubled world \u2014 of committing ourselves more unambiguously to raising the level of defense expenditure to a point which matches our national and international interests more commensurately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tackling the personnel gap<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Salary is certainly part of the reason the Navy can\u2019t reach its ideal end strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur sailors are being enticed out by remuneration levels significantly different to what we pay. These sailors are highly competent, highly disciplined, and they want to provide the best for their families,\u201d Proctor said. \u201cIf they can see the competitive labor market outside is going to give them [up to] NZ$50,000 extra per annum, they\u2019re going to take it, notwithstanding they wish to serve the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But pay is not necessarily the major reason for attrition rates, according to independent defense consultant Gordon Crane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany of the personnel ordered to manage quarantine facilities during the COVID epidemic subsequently resigned,\u201d Crane told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Police and Royal New Zealand Navy staff are seen at the northern Auckland border at Te Hana on Nov. 17, 2021, amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. (Fiona Goodall\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, sailors were tapped to manage hotels hosting those under quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cThey weren\u2019t in ships, and they joined the Navy to go away in ships,\u201d Proctor said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a mixed bag. In some areas there is high morale, in other areas it\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shortfall is further exasperated by \u201csevere restrictions in some of the critical technical trades,\u201d Proctor added. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a perennial problem for many of our technical trades, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever had enough in 20 years; certainly it\u2019s been a long time since we had an excess of technical sailors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proctor said some of the crew members of idle ships are helping to fill readiness gaps on other ships, while others are taking leave or participating in training courses. Some personnel will sail with other navies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dI want our sailors to retain their skills as mariners and sailors, so where we don\u2019t have an ability to send our own ships, I am inviting partners [to see] if they have an ability to help us,\u201d Proctor said. \u201cThat\u2019s not unusual; we have exchanges going all the time. It\u2019s just this time we will potentially send larger numbers of Kiwi sailors to our partners\u2019 ships to deliver security outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy has responded to its readiness gap with technical and financial measures, in particular the introduction of training simulators that make the process faster and more efficient, according to Proctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can get them to sea \u2026 in less time. We had an engineering training reform project [in which we asked]: Were we training the right things with the sailors that we require at sea?\u201d he said. \u201cOur seaman combat specialist [trade] has undertaken a similar review; simulation has provided similar benefits with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are specific in recruiting targets for particular trades. We\u2019ve introduced a training scheme for enlisted sailors whereby they can go and undertake tertiary training \u2014 one or two each year \u2014 that satisfies their professional desire for development,\u201d he added. \u201cOne of the key ones that I am keen on and we are still putting resources into is the School to Seas program. It\u2019s woman-focused on the [science, technology, engineering and math] trades. We\u2019ve run that program once, and we\u2019re running it again next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAcross the Defence Force we have introduced an international operational enabling allowance that\u2019s encouraging people to remain in the service in some of the areas where [living] costs are high,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, sailors that deploy for more than 210 days in a year are now granted two days of extra leave for each month they\u2019re over that balance. \u201cObviously that doesn\u2019t help them when they are at sea, but they get to do a degree of reconnection with [their] family when they do come home,\u201d Proctor noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have introduced retention payments for critical trades,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s short term and buys us time to address those core issues that sit behind our attrition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though New Zealand was aware of its chronic sailor shortage, it still decided to acquire more ships, according to Paul Buchanan, a former defense policy analyst with the U.S. government who now leads the geopolitical consultancy 36th Parallel Assessments in Auckland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s where it went wrong, Buchanan told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vessels Te Kaha and Te Mana entered service in the late 1990s, while the Canterbury joined in 2007, followed by the Hawea and the Taupo in 2009. The next year saw the Wellington and the Otago join the fleet. More recently, the Manawanui entered service in 2019, and the Aotearoa in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the acquisition of these [ships] was more aspirational than practicable because they could see that they were having recruitment and retention problems,\u201d Buchanan said. \u201cBut they felt the need to protect our [exclusive economic zone] and those of our neighbors, and went ahead anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe have lost significant flexibility,\u201d said Rear Adm. 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