This pandemic revealed that shipping industry should not be accused of conservatism anymore as it proved its ability and willingness to adapt quickly to new reality and remain innovative, experts of Panel 2 during the last SAFETY4SEA Forum noted.
In particular, Mr. Kjetil Flood, Mintra, Chief Commercial Officer; Mr. Erik Green, Green-Jakobsen A/S, CEO/Partner; Dr. Konstantinos Poulis, Epsilon Hellas, General Manager; Capt. Nicolo Terrei, Augustea Ship Manning Phils. Inc., Owner Representative and; Mr. Bill Truelove, CSMART Training Centre, Managing Director – discussed about the potential crew shortage, ways to invest in future skills and reduce the competency gas as well as get people more involved in training combining new technologies.
‘’Seafarers proved they are very patient and resilient and we are very proud of them. They all showed resilience and endurance, without them, the whole trade would have been collapsed.’’, highlighted Dr. Konstantijnos Poulis, Epsilon Hellas, noting that during these challenging times, seafarers demonstrated skills that they couldn’t even image they possess; this makes us as an industry extremely happy, proud and optimistic about the future.
In his turn, Mr. Kjetil Flood, Mintra, said that the situation added additional training challenges. ‘’The crew change requirements change quickly and we need to keep seafarers and their families up-to-date. Apart from training seafarers about their safety, there is a need to train them for soft skills development’’, he mentioned.
Among others, the pandemic revealed that as an industry we are able to collaborate effectively for the mutual benefit of everyone, stressed Mr. Bill Truelove, CSMART, sharing lessons learned. ‘’We also learned that we can do things differently and adapt successfully. When it comes to training for example, we innovated the training provided to seafarers globally and adapted to online reality. The key issue is how to move forward and gain momentum when the pandemic eventually fades out.’’ Mr. Truelove said.
‘’When the pandemic started, all governments around the globe posed restrictions which impeded trade making the situation challenging day by day. As training providers in Philippines, we were forced to close the academy and to reinvent ourselves in order to try to find solutions and give reason to our seafarers that training remains vital while also keep them patient ashore’’ said Capt. Nicolo Terrei who shared how he experienced the pandemic challenges.
Continuing with lessons learned out of the pandemic, Mr. Erik Green, Green Jakobsen, noted that industry debunked the myth of being conservative, proving that willingness, ability, innovation and cooperation can build something different. However, the situation also showed industry’s vulnerability. Despite this, the biggest lesson learned to keep is that when we seek for alternative ways, what might have taken years of experience under normal conditions, shipping can adapt to very quickly. One example of this is the online training, Mr. Green noted. ‘’We can achieve new things and do better when we need or when we want to do it’’ he concluded.
Continuing the discussions, experts said that the 4th industrial revolution is taking place and shipping industry can follow it as we are witnessing many new technological developments. However, we need to take advantage of this technology acceleration and shed our focus on training and skills development to drive performance.
‘’The more we move towards accelerated digitalization and innovation, the more new things are coming externally – this make us feel even more challenged but also rewarded at the same time’’ argued Dr. Poulis who also noted that it is inevitable many of the emerging things to skip our attention and current safety management systems to become obsolete. ‘’This actually creates the need to get prepared for what it is coming, requiring more different skills’’ he stressed and supported that ‘cognitive flexibility’ is a key skill to have in order to adapt to every challenge.
‘’When we talk about the 4th revolution, we mostly talk about the new technology that have entered into our lives, such as AI, VR, drones, advanced software etch, but it actually means the urgent need to move further to utilize these amazing technologies and enhance business and operations.’’ clarified Mr. Flood from his perspective.
Mr. Flood also referred to an interesting survey, conducted last year by the Norwegian University of Science and funded by EU, which following interviews with 50 different companies within maritime, found that the focus would be on the future competence and skills to meet more rapid development of onboard technology and on the development of soft skills like leadership and management for both onshore and onboard careers.
As things are accelerating for the last couple decades, the big challenge for the shipping is to keep pace with the developments and be ahead of the technology and the same goes for training, mentioned Mr. Truelove, adding also: ‘’Albeit the technological developments, let’s not forget the basis of our training; to learn how to safely operate onboard. The new technology is there but are we still practicing the fundamental principles of safety. We should never loose focus out of this target.’’
When it comes to training, Mr. Green highlighted that training attempts to drive performance. However, there is learning and development process between. ‘’Learning and development are critical areas in order to drive performance through training. Training is a starting point to ensure performance and of course motivation is a key skill in the whole procedure.’’ he explained.
Experts also debated on the projected crew shortage and highlighted that the maritime industry needs to be prepared since this shortage has not only to do with a decrease in the number of crews but also with a lack of skills. In that regard, focus on competence and up skilling should be a priority; to achieve these, significant changes should take place.
‘’When we refer to office shortage it is not only about the number but also about the competence’’said Mr. Flood and referred to the example of decarbonization to stress that industry is currently facing new challenges ahead. ‘’If we take for example IMO’s targets towards decarbonization in 2030, we need to consider that we have 8 years but don’t expect a difference if we don’t make radical changes and consider the new technology coming onboard and the new demands.’’ he explained.
Concluding the discussion, experts agreed that additional skills are necessary to face the competency gap and industry stakeholders have a joint responsibility towards. As such, the maritime industry needs to ensure that people onboard are being provided with news ways of training and systems. In order to move faster and accelerate our position in the learning curve, we need to use modern tools and constructive feedback to develop and grow crew skills. The industry wants to invest in its people and organizations need to find better ways towards.
