During the last SAFETY4SEA Athens Forum, Mr. Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA asked experts to think what will be different and what will be the same with respect to safety in 50 years from today, bearing in mind that shipping industry follows a more traditional approach and has already shown a resistance to change to new challenges, i.e. smart era and digitalization.
What should we expect to change in 2050?
Capt. Yves Vandenborn, Director of Loss Prevention, Standard Club
“We’ll have a lot more digitalization and autonomous ships; there is advantage in having some kind of automation but we’ll still have crew. Safety culture will change; I think we’ll get a couple more, big incidents, sadly enough, that will push through change in the non-tanker sector. In that sense, it won’t be because people want to change, I think people will have to be forced to change and in that sense the industry will change.”
Dr. Maria Progoulaki, Regional Representative and Senior Consultant, Green-Jakobsen A/S
“Considering that the population remains the same by 2050, digitalization is, I think, a very hot issue, but I am afraid of its effects; for instance, people are being even more isolated and that’s a weakness. We can’t afford having machines being smarter and taking decisions for us at all times. I think there is a great risk there, to control all this and be able to use it properly.”
John Southam, Loss Prevention Executive, The North of England P&I Club
“Two things may happen; either large scale accidents and incidents or trail blazers; subsequently, there will be an improvement through and people who do believe in this, they are making a difference already. Nonetheless, all people will start to see that safety equals efficiency, which is good for business.”
Manit Chander, Chief Executive Officer, HiLo Maritime Risk
“The trade is going to increase, population is going to go up by 30%, so trade is going to radically increase which means that risk is going to be higher. Having said that, I personally feel that the safety culture is going to improve and get much better or plateau. Primarily, because of few drivers; number one, digitalization, obviously, so we’ll get more data. Number two, other sectors will follow because information will come seamlessly around. People will be more aware of such incidents because today if something goes wrong, it comes on our apps and our phones. So naturally companies will have to be a bit more careful about these things. And third, I think we’ll have a lot women seafarers and we’ll have diverse thinking.”
Above views were presented during a panel discussion at the 2019 SAFETY4SEA Athens Forum
