Malaysian shipping industry is facing a crewing crisis the seriousness of which does not seem to have registered as a priority by the industry given the fact that the current deficit of about 10,000 could leap-fold to unprecedented levels in the next couple of years. The global shipping industry must come to grips quickly with the realities and the concerns on the emerging shortages and the demand for well-trained and experienced seafarers as the biggest challenge facing the shipping industry itself. The worldwide population of seafarers serving on internationally trading merchant ships today is estimated to be in the order of 400,000 officers and 825,000 ratings. As far as ratings are concerned they are, in the majority recruited from developing countries especially Malaysia. A staggering 20,000 new crew at an average of 15 crews per ship will be needed to meet the demand annually and the number needed could be potentially more if attrition from those currently employees are also taken into account. The issue is not only the concern over the projected shortage of seafarers. There is need also to ensure that the seafarers are not burdened by the spate of new rules and regulations that are impacting on ship operations and management and how the human factor is accounted for and dealt with in these regulations. The seriousness could be clearly reflected when the number of ships currently on order worldwide totalling about 8,000 vessels with deliveries averaging 2,000 annually over the next three years and relate it to the demand for crew for each of these ships. Given the current rate of growth of the shipping industry, there is no easy solution or a quick-fix to the crewing crisis that could overwhelm the industry.