Some British-flagged merchant ships used in the Falklands War needed replacement personnel because their crews' home countries would not permit participation. Dependence on international mariners creates the same question when planning future wartime sealift. If a major supplier of crews such as the Philippines prohibited its citizens from serving in a conflict, requisitioning ships would leave a separate shortage of people to operate them. The example of P&O ferries adds another concern: changes to a shipping company's flags and crews can affect the pool available for national defence. National shipping capacity includes trained mariners as well as hulls and shipyards.
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Merchant crews are a strategic constraint on wartime sealift
The Falklands sealift and today's multinational crews show that requisitioning a ship does not automatically provide willing, trained mariners.