“In order to make the most of technology, we need to change the way we train our crews.” This was the over-riding message that Bob Maxwell, Managing Director of Bernhard Schulte Ship Management delivered during his speech at the Smart Operations, Singapore conference that was held last week.
During his address, Maxwell stated that the industry’s mind-set towards training needs to change in order to prepare seafarers for 21st century shipping.
He reflected upon how the current status quo is to apply a 1940’s mentality to seafarer training, despite the huge advances in vessels and technology.
A top-down approached with management committed to the training and processes is the most important aspect that will support the advancing use of technology and digital aspects onboard ships, he stated.
Maxwell made the strong point that the seafarers of today are sailing on technologically advanced vessels and need to be trained accordingly. He voiced that we need to match our people to the demands of modern shipping and not vice versa.
He stressed that seafarers must not be loaded with tasks they are not good at but rather be trained in what they are good at. However, this statement came with a caveat of how this ship managers does not make the reflection on what he feels are the excellent skills of the modern seafarer but instead a call to stop demanding they be a ‘jack of all trades and master of none’.
An example he quoted was: “let’s not ask them to overhaul a generator, the statistics show they are likely to blow up. Instead get the machinery working properly and conditioned correctly by experts in this field.”
Touching upon autonomous vessels, Maxwell voiced that he believed the industry will get to the stage of autonomous vessels in some form, however he confirmed that it will go through many intermediate stages before this happens.
For Maxwell, optimising crew and technology interaction will be vital to moving successfully through these stages towards the autonomous vessel of the future.
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