Yes, the tech on board is as cheap as it can possibly get. These are no state of the art ships. Nobody builds that for commercial transport. Some parts are even from dismantled ships... salvaged. I once, personally, took apart a 30 years old switch on a brand new ship (we were the second crew... ever).

However, crew shortages are DISASTEROUS today.

Let us take clear example of one crew complement of 14 people (this is just illustrative):

14 people / 2 departments (deck + engine) = 7 people per department.

Deck: 1 captain + 1 officer + 1 cargo guy + 3 crewmembers + 1 cook

Engine: 1 chief engineer + 1 engineer + 5 crewmembers

And this complement means that Captain/officer and chief engineer/engineer are keeping 6 hours on-6 hours off watch... that is already A KILLER job. Imagine having 3-6 months contract on that regime... IF you come back home you are malnourished, destroyed, exhausted and deranged. Lack of rest and sleep literally drives you mad. Even when you can sleep, these small ships are rocking like the rolercoaster, so you are again f...d.

Then, for any mooring operation, you need all crew... so, no sleep again...

Cargo operation is a nightmare from hell.

I'm not even going to go into maintenance area... with this crew complement, one guy goes to the toilet, you are left without 30% of the manpower and anything that even could be done - is delayed (not that much can be done with 3-4 men).

Whoever allowed such a small crew complement (looking at you IMO and classification societies) has NEVER EVER been at sea and I wish them all nothing but sea service until the end of their miserable lives.

Terrible tragedy that one man got lost (crews are today mostly asian and many cannot swim).

It is a global crime that cargo freights are on the rise (constantly), but the crews and their salaries are reduced.