Taiwan's coast guard added 36 vessels in five years but is struggling to find crews for them

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has grown its fleet by more than a fifth since 2022 under two shipbuilding programmes meant to counter Chinese gray-zone pressure at sea, but it is falling well short of the people it needs to crew the new vessels, according to a review by the Legislative Yuan's Budget Center. The Liberty Times reported the findings on Monday; the Taipei Times had reported them days earlier.

The fleet rose from 169 vessels in 2022 to 205 at the end of July 2026, a net gain of 36, or 21.3 percent. Patrol vessels and patrol boats grew by a net three and 34 respectively, while the number of ocean-going patrol ships fell by one. The government has framed the building drive as a way to strengthen maritime law enforcement and the force's ability to switch from peacetime to wartime duties.

Staffing has not kept pace. The Budget Center says the CGA's recruitment shortfall has exceeded 30 percent every year since 2024. Its 2026 requirement of 344 people is the highest in recent years and 202 more than in 2021, an increase of about 142 percent. For the police special examinations whose results had already been released, the agency sought 266 people but came up 106 short, a vacancy rate of 39.85 percent.

The longer record is similar. Between 2021 and 2025, annual requirements ranged from 142 to 306 people, while 140 to 229 candidates were accepted and only 121 to 208 actually reported for duty. That left yearly gaps of 21 to 98 people, or roughly 15 to 34 percent of the target.

The new ships add to the demand. The Budget Center calculates that the CGA needs 136 additional crew this year and 128 next year, followed by 15 more a year from 2028 to 2031. Those figures leave out the separate Maritime Rights Protection patrol vessel construction plan, which the Liberty Times described as sensitive, so the full requirement is higher.

The reviewers urged the agency to learn from the experience of the United States and Japan and to make greater use of technology in patrol work, so that it can ease the manpower gap while keeping up its maritime law-enforcement capacity.

The CGA replied that crew for its vessels are recruited and trained on schedule through the Central Police University and the Taiwan Police College, and replenished each year through special examinations and other hiring channels. It said it has raised six allowances, including pay for sea duty and hazardous duty, has sought budget for more contract positions for vessel crews, and that staffing aboard its ships complies with regulations.

The findings land as the coast guard is being asked to do more against Chinese gray-zone incursions around Taiwan. Results for several civil service and coast guard examinations had not been announced by the end of August, and the Budget Center said it would keep watching how many successful candidates actually report for duty this year.