Tag: young generation

When Capt. Josephine Clark, a marine pilot at Port Kembla, started her career back in 2005, there were just 6 female pilots working in Australian ports. “Today we are still in the single digits. Barely any progress in 17 years,” she described to Maritime SheEO. So, what if the job becomes obsolete before some sort of gender balance is achieved? What are the key skills to watch for anyone seeking to put themselves out there for a career as a maritime pilot?  

During last SAFETY4SEA Forum, a dedicated panel of experts discussed about key challenges with regards to human factors and best practices to enhance safety culture and safety learning. Human factor is what drives shipping; by identifying seafarers’ training needs and skills and finding ways to mitigate risks onboard, we can ensure sustainable performance for the industry, panelists agreed.

At the Global Maritime Forum’s Annual Summit in New York, young maritime professionals discussed what actions need to be taken for the maritime industry to attract future generations. Improving human sustainability will be imperative to help the industry appeal to and retain future talent – an issue increasingly pressing for the resiliency of the entire maritime value chain.

Among the main effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was that it changed radically the industry’s status quo, highlighting working conditions in shipping. Meanwhile, global awareness of the adverse effects of climate change globally has put the environment at the top of the agenda in controversial industries, such as shipping and the energy sector. What are the main issues expected to attract the attention of maritime leaders in the near future?

Mr Rohit Agarwal, Managing Partner at GUIDESHIP CONSULTING SERVICES LLP, discusses the benefits and drawbacks of being a ship recycling professional and helps anyone interest in joining the field to make an informed decision about their career plan.

In an exclusive interview to SAFETY4SEA, Dr. Heike Deggim, Director, Maritime Safety Division, IMO, says that smart ships will change fundamentally ship operations and highlights that human element remains on top of IMO’s agenda. In that regard, STCW Convention and Code is under review to keep training requirements up-to-date while MLC will take into account lessons learned during the pandemic to ensure seafarers welfare under critical conditions.

Mrs Claudia Paschkewitz, CSM Group Director of Diversity and Inclusion, shares interesting perspectives on how shipping can transform into a more diverse industry, highlighting that young Generation Z will play a key role towards.

What is the end goal of life? “Happiness” Captain Obvious may say and indeed, the idea of feeling constantly happy sounds great. However, science has come to question again what can be characterized as “common knowledge”, by proving that feeling a variety of emotions is much more beneficial than feeling only positive emotions.

Shipping working reality is demanding, but the industry remains an adventurous environment with many reasons for young people to work in it: Significant career progress for the hardworkings, opportunity for constant learning and meeting interesting people, challenge, travel, the sense of community, panelists stressed during the CAREER4SEA virtual forum that took place in December.

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.