Will the seafarer of the future be anything like the one of the present?
That seems to be the question in everyone’s mind and concerns most if not all the seafarers themselves.
But was that not always the case? Try to visualize the seafarer of the 1960s or 1970s; does he look like the seafarers of 2000’s much more of today’s?
Of course, developments are a lot faster during our times than what they used to be in the past, and naturally this affects all aspects of our work together with our human resources. Thinks have changed rapidly over the last couple of decades, and it will change even more so in the coming years. This should not be perceived as a lethal barrier but rather as a creative challenge.
The people who will be joining our vessels in the next 1 or 2 decades will be Generations Z and Alpha (born after 1997). These generation and in particular Generation Alpha, will be people born and raised entirely in the 3rd millennium, will have experienced the effects of COVID19 pandemic as children, would have access to everything dominated by electronic technology, social networks, and streaming services. They way they will have acquired knowledge will be completely different than ours, schooling days will be different, socializing will be different. Therefore, they will be the perfect group for implementing new technologies, working with smart digitalized systems, robots, autonomous devices and AI. All these things that may look like coming from a fiction movie today will be completely normal for them. But again, wasn’t this always the case at some degree?
The main issue is how fast will things change and how fast we need to adapt to the new reality. There will certainly be a change of skills and competences that will have to be achieved shortly and the discussion is already on the table - with the update of the STCW discussed currently at the IMO - as to what will be these new skills and competencies that seafarers will need to possess to cope with the challenges of digitalization and decarbonization to come.
According to DNV’s study on the “Future of seafarers 2030” co-funded by SMF (Singapore Maritime Foundation) upskilling needs of seafarers in the areas of decarbonization and digitalization, eighty-one percent of seafarers surveyed (over 500 in total) indicated that they require either partial or complete training to effectively work with the advanced technology that will be present onboard future ships. Similarly, over 75 percent of the respondent expressed a requirement for partial or complete training on new fuel types such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), batteries or synthetic fuels. This training deficit rose to 87 percent of survey respondents for emerging fuels such as ammonia, hydrogen and methanol. Shipowners and operators are increasingly deploying modern tech- nologies onboard and exploring the use of alternative fuels to stay compliant. Handling these fuels and technologies will require the crew to have additional skill sets and thus the need for comprehensive training. At the same time, growing automation of components and systems onboard is expected to bring about a rise in autonomous and smart ships, thus the need to consider remote shore monitoring in the future.
Hopefully, we will have some clear directions in the near future that will allow for planning upskilling and reskilling of seafarers in the right direction which will also lead to the carrier advancement and development opportunities of people both onboard and ashore.
* Regional Maritime Academies Manager DNV