Human resources in the German maritime industries : 'back-sourcing' and ship management

In today's global shipping industry have management functions often been outsourced to separate companies and to overseas locations. With the appearance of so-called 'flags of convenience', the world shipping industry has increasingly registered commercial vessels overseas. Following this trend, human resource management functions have also been relocated, with the opening of recruitment offices and the use of HR agencies outside OECD countries. Recently, new German regulation has sought to attract previously outsourced HRM functions back to Germany. A case study of such a newly established firm, called 'Reimarus', will exemplify the impact of the new regulation on HR firms in shipping. The following paper analyses this process based on an empirical study of Germany's commercial shipping industry.