In an exclusive interview, Mr. Andreas Nordseth, Director-General of the Danish Maritime Authority (DMA), refers to initiatives that DMA supports towards carbon neutrality in 2050. This is a target set by the Danish government and DMA is fully committed to, putting also digitalization, covid-19 recovery, crew welfare and safety of navigation as top priorities.
Furthermore, Mr. Nordseth highlights the importance of including human element in our discussions and receive constructive feedback in order to find new and safer ways of work. In that regard, industry needs to also focus on empowerment and responsibility. This boils down to good decision making where digital decision support combined with competent and empowered crew will be a way to better safety, he explains.
SAFETY4SEA: What are the top priorities in the DMA’s agenda for next year?
A.N.: The Danish Maritime Authority is fully committed to work towards reducing greenhouse gases in shipping. It is the top priority on the maritime agenda in Denmark, and we are dedicated to this task. The Danish government has set an ambitious goal to achieve carbon-neutral shipping by 2050 and to ensure emissions from international shipping undergo significant reductions in this decade.
Digitalisation is another top priority. On this topic, we are aiming at introducing several digital systems for the users in the industry such as fully digital registration and certification of ships, digital certificates for seafarers, and a digital maritime spatial plan. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic still has our full attention, and we will continue to monitor the situation and stay prepared to find solutions and assist ships and seafarers with the challenges the pandemic still may cause.
S4S: From your perspective, what are the key challenges that the maritime industry is currently facing? What are your suggestions to move for- ward?
A.N.: From my point of view, it is vital that we agree upon ambitious goals for the decarbonisation of the maritime industry in the IMO to make sure, we are sailing in the same direction at the right speed. To bring the decarbonisation up to speed, we are supporting initiatives as battery-driven ferries and experimentation with new fuel types in order to help pave the way for carbon neutrality in 2050. For instance, the use of new fuel types creates a demand for new international standards that also address new safety concerns which we need to address. Many such initiatives towards greener shipping are now being taken globally, and we need to collaborate on these results, and how we regulate in the future to pave the way for green solutions.
Another key challenge is to continue the efforts to improve the safety of navigation. From analysis conducted during safety investigations by EMSA, it was determined that 53 pct. of all maritime accidents from 2014-2020 were related to human action. To me, it indicates that we can move safety forward by better use of need intelligent decision support. New systems will be able to help improving safety, and that is exactly what digitalisation can bring to shipping. To move forward on this, we need collaboration and standards for data exchange and to support first movers that are willing to use such systems.
S4S: What lessons has the industry learned with the pandemic? Where should we improve for a future crisis situation?
A.N.: The whole World has learned that shipping is absolute key in the global supply chain. People all over the world rely on ships to transport the commodities, goods and products on which they depend in their every day life. In other words, shipping has become very visible to the whole World, and we have learned that it is critical that we during crisis ensure that shipping can function. We have also learned that maritime transport is totally dependant on the many seafarers, without whom the ships will not move. The seafarers are clearly key personnel in the global supply chain and it has become very clear to all that we need to make sure that seafarers can get to and from ships and that their basic needs of repatriation while away from home is met.
Before the pandemic, we took this for granted but we have learned that it doesn’t come by itself. So, if we are facing a similar situation in the future, it is important to handle the coming challenges step by step, as we have done during the pandemic by prioritizing seafarers in national vaccination programmes and by facilitating safe movement across borders for seafarers. A high degree of communication was needed between the stakeholders in the shipping industry to achieve these results, and we must have that in mind in coming crisis.
S4S: Are you satisfied with industry stakeholders’ response on the issue of crew welfare until today? Where should ship operators focus on and how could your organization help towards?
A.N.: It is clearly my impression that the industry stakeholders take crew welfare very serious. On a global scale, the Maritime Labour Convention sets fairly good standards for crew welfare, and this has somewhat raised the bar and more importantly raised awareness of the importance of crew welfare. We need to still focus on global enforcement so that no one slips under the bar. And then, learning from the pandemic, we also need to consider how to include other stakeholders, such as health authorities, in the discussions of solutions to better crew welfare.
S4S: In your view, has the industry been successful in enhancing its safety performance? What should be the next steps? How can we further en- hance safety culture onboard?
A.N.: Through the last 30 years, we have seen large improvements in the safety performance of the maritime industry. Global regulation and enforcement has been the main driver in this development but the maritime industry has certainly also been a strong partner in the process. Nonetheless, accidents continue to occur, and I think to reach a higher level of safety the next step is to actually do more about the maritime safety culture rather than merely focus on compliance with the specific rules. From my perspective, all of us in the maritime sector should focus more on the purpose of the safety regulation instead of discussing degrees of compliance. This is a challenge since we have been dedicated to compliance in itself for the past decades. An important key is to include the human element – i.e. the seafarers – in the equation and invite them to find new and safer ways of work. In other words, we need to also discuss empowerment and responsibility. This boils down to good decision making where digital decision support combined with competent and empowered crew will be a way to better safety.
S4S: As we move forward, how do you feel the challenges of digitization and decarbonization will impact the way that we provide training to sea- farers and the skills required by seafarers in order to operate ships?
A.N.: Digitalisation will influence operations of ships in the future, and so will decarbonisation. And it goes without saying that the training programmes for seafarers will have to adapt and reflect this development. It implies both content and means of delivery. We have already seen it has been easier to access courses with theoretical content online, and it has been easier for the seafarers to be updated on new knowledge regarding for instance work environment on board. This will continue.
New demands on decarbonisation also calls for focus on energy efficiency as part of the maritime training. In one case, we have seen in Denmark that guided training in fuel efficient manoeuvring of ferries can lower the use of fuel significantly. It is an example of the benefits of looking at the crew – they possess solutions and contributions to safety and efficiency. In the future, we must continue to modernise our training of the seafarers so the seafarers of tomorrow learn to use new, intelligent systems that improve maritime safety and fuel efficiency.
S4S: Considering theongoing humanitarian crisis (due to the pan- demic) and recent accidents (i.e. Ever Given), how may the young gen- eration think of the shipping industry? How should we work to raise industry’s profile to the next talents?
A.N.: The young generation should be told the fantastic story of the importance of the shipping industry. Shipping is the backbone of the world economy, and the next talents will receive an important role in the world trade, where the talents can make a difference. The future talents in shipping will be a part of a high performance culture, and the seafarers of tomorrow will sail the largest ships in the world and handle the advanced and digital equipment in the transport industry.
Today the shipping industry is also an important part of the green transition, and if young people want to join an organisation with a clear mission to reduce CO2 emissions, there are plenty of possibilities in the maritime sector as market leaders’ aim towards zero-carbon-shipping within the next 20 years. Recent stories with seafarers on extended duty and seafarers, who are not able to return to their families, may have had a negative impact on the at- traction to shipping. The industry should increase the efforts of telling the positive story of shipping, and time now in the wake of the pandemic is ripe for this story since the importance of shipping has become visible to the World.
S4S:What are you looking forward to in 2022? What would you be most glad about seeing changing in the maritime industry next year?
A.N.: I look forward to see the concrete examples on intelligent solutions to support maritime safety and initiatives towards greener shipping to support the decarbonisation agenda. It is important to get examples on decarbonisation and digitalisation in shipping in large and smaller scale, so we can show- case the possibilities in the transformation of the maritime sector. I hope our initiatives regarding digital certificates will be used on a larger scale globally, and there will be an increased demand for more of these types of digital solutions in 2022.
S4S: Do you have any plans/ projects/ initiatives to support innovation within shipping that you would like to share?
A.N.: The Danish Maritime Authority would like to be a facilitator and partner for innovative solutions especially in the fields of green tech, decarbonization and digitalization. DMA Future Lab is a new matrix organization that handles challenging inquires that need authority approval or acceptance but where there is no international rules – simply because it is front end technology not foreseen. The Lab handles inquires on various stages in the innovation process. On one hand, the DMA Future Lab handles inquires on innovations that are ready to be implemented on commercial vessels. However, the Future Lab can also help with early stage innovations that need room or geography to test out new ideas.
S4S: What is your key message to industry stakeholders in order to enhance crew motivation and competence during these challenging times?
A.N.: My message to the industry stakeholders is to consider including the knowledge and talent among the crew on a more regular basis. Experience has shown, seafarers are less consulted and less involved in decision-making than other types of co-workers in the industry. If the crew is asked to deliver insights on improvements on for instance efficiency, opportunities for digitalisation, maritime safety, it could enhance the crew motivation, and the shipping companies could exploit the tacit knowledge in their organisation.
The views presented are only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
