Competence, the overall ability of an individual to accomplish a task properly is the main quest during the recruiting process of any company.
It is generally acceptable that since qualification is very often dissimilar to competence, the identified gaps between qualification and competence in the companies’ employees should be timely recognized and treated through dedicated learning/training programs, to ensure job performance and business continuity. The case of a shipping company is illustrative in this respect. Competent personnel is a necessity due to the multiple (onboard and ashore) tasks, and the high levels of technical, safety and security, and environmental standards that are anticipated from international shipping. Current practices to cope with the possible gaps in competence can range from the traditional training matrices of safety/quality management systems, to the more advanced competence management programs that have been recently introduced by international standards (i.e. TMSA 3 for the tankers segment).
Technology and regulation, drivers of new training needs
In addition, the competence needed to perform the duties of a certain position is also subject to change. Consequently, this change in competence generates new learning/training needs. For international shipping, this is easily evident in recent years, owing to the following two important drivers: a) the rapid enforcement of new international legislation and b) the acceleration of new technology uptake and in particular of technology related to digitalisation.
International shipping has seen its environmental agenda growing rapidly in recent years. Within five years from now (2019), the industry will have to cope with the enforcement of important regulations that cover different environmental drivers; greenhouse gases, air emissions, ballast water, and hazardous materials onboard ships, to name only the most illustrative ones. Compliance with these new regulations comes with a number of big challenges such as for example, the extensive and expensive retrofits of exhaust gas cleaning and water ballast treatment, the new/adjusted procedures for the handling of new fuels, the new requirements for monitoring and reporting of the fuel consumption, and the new tools launched for managing energy efficiency onboard. It can be easily justified from the above that new regulations ask for new technical (and non-technical) skills to be acquired from both onboard and ashore personnel.
The second important driver is the acceleration in technology uptake, and in particular, in the technology related to the digital transformation that is ongoing in many aspects of human life, and in international shipping. The digitalisation process creates new tasks in a shipping company such as the handling of big data, the rise of remote operations and the digital twins of ship systems, among others. Furthermore, as technology uptake is accelerating, new energy alternatives are now considered (e.g. batteries and fuel cells) for onboard use. It is without saying, that the traditional training scheduling of a shipping company should be substantially updated to cover the new learning needs forced by these changes. Moreover, it is also quite probable, that job descriptions will have to be gradually reshaped and even new positions will have to be created to handle the innovative technology installed onboard ships and ashore.
RINA response - Global Marine Training Centre
Inspiring from the above-mentioned ideas, RINA has recently decided to develop a Global Marine Training Centre, with the main objective to develop innovative marine training material in response to the new training/learning needs of shipping companies. With Greece, being the most important centre within the shipping world, locating the new Global Marine Training Centre in Piraeus, offers an excellent opportunity for RINA to work with the Greek shipping community, in order to understand the emerging training needs and introduce new training titles that will be then available to the global marine network. Synergies already established with Greek academic institutions (i.e. with the National Technical University of Athens) and high-tech companies, are being exploited towards this direction. The Global Marine Training Centre is also working to connect the training process with the research activities of RINA in Greece and other areas.
Professional classroom and customised in-house courses are already available that cover topics such as environment and energy efficiency, maritime safety & security, technical & operational aspects, class and statutory compliance, and managerial and soft skills. Moreover, the Global Marine Training Centre is working for the implementation of innovative methods and tools (i.e. e-learning, augmented reality, simulation, and gamification), which can radically improve the practicality and efficacy of marine training, while at the same time ask for less resources (in terms of time and costs) from shipping companies.
For any organisation that wants to keep up with the continuous pace of change in an ever more competitive international field, management of personnel competence and lifelong learning have become vital. There is significant potential in new technology; yet, shipping companies will have to advance their training/learning practises. The Global Marine Training Centre of RINA, based in Greece, works with innovative tools to offer new marine training material while focusing on optimising the overall knowledge-transfer process for the personnel of shipping companies.
* Senior Manager, Global Marine Training