Eight in ten seafarers in Singapore say they require either partial or complete training in dealing with advanced digital technologies, such as advanced sensors, artificial intelligence and remote operations.
The Future of Seafarers 2030: A Decade of Transformation study – by DNV and the Singapore Maritime Foundation – also reveals that 52% of seafarers have a strong preference for in-person training at a maritime training centre or academy. The majority (70%) have used simulators, virtual reality (VR) or other digital environments when undertaking training, and indicated that these training methods helped develop their skills.
Additionally, two-thirds of the respondents believe having advanced digital technologies onboard would help ease their job. More than half also indicated that new developments in fuels, automation and digitalisation onboard ships can assist in attracting new seafarers to a career at sea and retaining existing seafarers.
Future-proofing the maritime industry
Based on these findings, the study recommends:
- The maritime industry to use the future seafarer training model, where maritime training academies focus on delivering basic/generalised shipboard skills while ship operators should be focusing on delivering fuel-specific and vessel-specific training.
- The industry to effectively use a range of training options to enable training to be accessed universally, promptly and comprehensively. This may result in the blending of training courses to have both a digital and in-person component to make the best use of the available training resources and thereby be more accessible to seafarers. There is also scope to further include technologies such as VR/AR in enhancing seafarer training.
- Shipowners, operators, managers and training academies to ensure that the best-placed seafarers based on position onboard, experience and availability are trained at the right time to ensure continuity of operations and knowledge and skills transfer. This may result in senior officers being trained on new technologies and fuels first to enable an effective mentoring and on-the-job training environment onboard. The junior crew could have their onboard training supplemented by harnessing the available technology-assisted training (e.g., virtual reality, simulators etc.).
- Shipowners/operators/managers to harness seafarers’ unique and desirable skill sets and provide them with opportunities for complementary shore-based roles such as vessel control and monitoring facilities (shore control centres). This will likely become more prevalent later in the current decade and beyond.
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“As industry transformation—spurred by digital innovation and fuel transition—picks up pace, we must prioritise the training and development of sea-going professionals, ensuring that they possess the technical competencies to safely operate the more advanced ships that are coming on stream. Digitalisation and decarbonisation could present opportunities to attract a younger generation of sea-going professionals, provided a pathway to sustainable career development is visible, transiting from sea to shore-based careers. I thank DNV for their partnership in developing this study, which we hope could serve to provide useful inputs to advance the discussion in the training and development as well as attraction and retention of sea-going professionals,” says Tan Beng Tee, executive director of the Singapore Maritime Foundation.
“Emerging fuels and new technologies could pose safety risks for assets and crews, if not handled properly. Therefore, we must focus on the human factor and adequately train seafarers who operate and maintain ship systems, including carrying out bunkering operations. As an industry, we have a responsibility to keep them safe and well prepared for all eventualities,” says Cristina Saenz de Santa Maria, regional manager for South-East Asia, Pacific & India at DNV Maritime.
