Equipping the Next Generation of Maritime Talent

APRIL 2022

Equipping the Next Generation of Maritime Talent:

Why new academic approaches are required for a changing environment White Paper

EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MARITIME TALENT: WHY NEW ACADEMIC APPROACHES ARE REQUIRED FOR A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

APRIL 2022

Introduction With shipping volumes set to increase by about 1.3 percent on average annually between now and 2050, the ports and maritime industry is undergoing a drastic shift to remain competitive.

Aside from meeting the growing demands of a global economy, development in the sector is underpinned by forces such as safety and security, digitalisation and the global decarbonisation agenda. These trends are expected to accelerate, shining a light on the need for a diverse, multidisciplinary, and well-trained workforce to maximise the potential in the sector.

What knowledge and competencies do future seafarers need? How do training institutions and companies provide effective education and training to meet the needs of the future? How should maritime professionals be equipped to pursue a contemporary maritime career and respond effectively to the major evolution within the industry’s business processes?

Executive Summary Building and training a future-ready talent pool of maritime professionals has been one of the biggest challenges in today’s global maritime industry.

The push to expand supply chains, improve security, and drive the sustainability and digitalisation agenda is not only creating new jobs but also evolving existing ones in the industry, making them more attractive to younger generations.

This accentuates the importance of evolving maritime education and training to provide talented youth with the opportunity to develop the latest required skill sets.

We surveyed experts to learn some of the growing trends in the industry and how we can promote shipping as an attractive career option to tackle the shortage of new talent in the maritime sector.

Areas of focus were identified as:

Labour deficiency: Bringing a younger workforce to the fore not only builds the existing industry workforce but will also drive a greener, safer, and more digitalised industry.

Project-based training: Exposing prospective students to real-world scenarios, while simultaneously engaging their critical thinking and creativity, offers an insightful learning experience as they prepare for a career in maritime.

Research and development: University and industry collaboration is critically important for both established and new businesses, driving industry transformation, commercialization, and competitiveness through high-quality academic research that benefits internal research and development efforts.

Gender diversity: Increasing diversity also improves efficiency, teamwork and overall decision making, hence bringing more women into the talent pool is also a way to address the talent gap.

Green agenda: Incorporating sustainability into education and business is necessary to shape a sustainable future.

About Our Research During the month of April, we conducted telephone and video call interviews with global experts in the maritime training and employment sector.

Our survey questions focused on the necessity to drive awareness of career opportunities in the Maritime sector and preparing the next generation of seafarers and maritime leaders to implement sustainable industry standards.

And, from their shared thinking, we hope that others will benefit from their combined decades of experience in the industry, to understand and implement new areas of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in maritime education and training.

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EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MARITIME TALENT: WHY NEW ACADEMIC APPROACHES ARE REQUIRED FOR A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

APRIL 2022

LABOUR DEFICIENCY: The Industry Must Begin to Appeal to Younger Workers Now When speaking with experts on challenges faced by the shipping industry, a major workforce shortage both at sea and ashore stands as the most prominent.

Whilst our research found that labour deficiency in shipping comes down to several factors, both historic and new, the rapid growth of global cargo movement underpinned by a negative perception of ‘life at sea’ is repeatedly cited as the source of the industry’s growing staff shortage.

As a result, promoting shipping as an attractive career option for young people is a growing trend in the industry, which is responsible for the carriage of around 90 percent of world trade and sits as a vital contributor to the global economy.

One expert reaffirms that “the industry is not only growing but is changing and requires new skills, and with the backing of a global labour governance structure that allows any nationality to work at sea, ports and shipping companies are in an enviable position to draw from a truly global pool of talent.”

According to one maritime professor we surveyed however, when it comes to enrolling new talent to train and serve the sector, the misconception over career options becomes a prevalent barrier. “It makes sense to seek out young talent, but there is an overwhelming notion that a career in shipping covers seafaring roles only.”

There is a consensus amongst instructors, regulators, and leading companies in the field

therefore, that increasing awareness around the different types of jobs available in shipping is key to getting more young people into training, ultimately solving the shortage.

“The sector offers an array of professional services not only at sea but on land, such as legal, arbitration, finance, insurance, build and design, marketing and increasingly, technology and sustainability roles that support the industry as a whole,” according to a leading expert on maritime affairs.

Even at sea, there is a misguided notion about isolation he says, when “in fact, a seafarer career offers one the benefit of paid training in most cases, an almost guaranteed job thereafter if you apply yourself, and in the end, the potential to earn a large salary whilst enjoying flexible, month-on-month-off schedules.”

But what about the consideration of labour retention? Our pool of experts says this will be a crucial factor in generating a culture that aligns with a younger, and more multidisciplinary workforce.

“It’s important to stimulate an innovation-led ecosystem, such as that in the IT industries, that encourages young talent to work towards the bigger picture, transforming the industry in a way that has a global impact.” Shared sentiment was that the underlying benefit of recruiting a younger generation of maritime talent will be the realisation of a greener, safer, and more digitalised industry.

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EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MARITIME TALENT: WHY NEW ACADEMIC APPROACHES ARE REQUIRED FOR A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

APRIL 2022

PROJECT-BASED TRAINING: Tackling Real-World Problems Creates Future Leaders In addition to exposing prospective students to real-world scenarios and engaging them to devise and apply innovative solutions to complex problems, project-based learning can provide maritime educators with an educational tool that highlights prominent trends and challenges within the industry.

So, what are the key tenants of an effective project-based maritime development programme? Many within the field of maritime education would highlight that a key aspect of an effective project-based programme should be around cultivating an insightful learning experience for participants.

Experts told us that project-based maritime training can provide prospective seafarers and ports personnel with rich content knowledge, while simultaneously engaging their critical thinking and creativity, improving visualisation and decision making, enhancing cross-cultural understanding, as well as teaching the value of collaborative engagements.

“One of the main reasons that project-based learning has become incredibly popular as an educational tool is its capacity to challenge students in tackling real-world scenarios and devising unique solutions that can be applied to immediate effect,” explained a leading maritime industry analyst.

Not only that but the students themselves are also afforded a unique opportunity to showcase both their knowledge and skill through the creation of a public product or presentation that can be leveraged within the business ecosystem.

The nature of such courses teaches additional skills to its users, particularly around learners’ voices and choices. Students participating in such programmes often find that they are engaged in such a way that they control many aspects of the project, from the number of resources committed, participation in key decisions, as well as taking ownership of certain tasks and roles as part of a wider team.

It should also engage students to identify and adhere to strategies that align with industry best practices, as well as encourage them to seek novel solutions detrimental to achieving project success.

“At the same time, participants in such courses often find that they have gained invaluable knowledge not only of the industry itself but also of the different viewpoints and attitudes towards solving the shared challenge of the project. That is in addition to elevating their critical thinking, creativity, and capacity to work closely as part of a team effort.”

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EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MARITIME TALENT: WHY NEW ACADEMIC APPROACHES ARE REQUIRED FOR A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

APRIL 2022

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: Leveraging Links between Education and Industry Makes a Big Impact Where the maritime sector is facing rapid changes surrounding sustainability, safety, and digitalisation, connecting industry and academia is more commonly being promoted as a tactic to solve real-world and complex problems.

It is an important relationship that not only seeks to ensure that academic institutions are teaching relevant and meaningful curricula, but also that industry can present the actual challenges it is facing, and solutions it requires.

“Collaboration between academia and industry presents a mutually beneficial relationship to both sides,” reaffirms one leading associate professor.

“Of course, it allows students the opportunity to keep in touch with real-world problems, but equally the industry gains access to state-of-the-art equipment and tailored research from institutes they enter into strategic partnerships with.”

Specifically, universities and academic institutes can offer a wealth of technical expertise and facilities that can be utilised to deliver solutions to unique industry challenges. Beyond this, they train enthusiastic and inspiring seafarers, engineers, and scientists, providing a student body that is keen to create impactful solutions for the industry they are looking to enter.

Take digitalisation in the industry, for example, it is a shift that will undoubtedly alter the sector across the entire value chain.

“It is a challenge to be tackled as a partnership between industry and academia. Working together can deliver ready solutions to relatable challenges, whilst simultaneously developing the next generation of maritime specialists who will operate and implement these mechanisms in the future,” said one research coordinator from a leading maritime academy.

University and industry collaboration is critically important for industry transformation, commercialisation, and competitiveness, however, some interviewed described a latency within the industry.

“This very much comes down to the faculty engagement,” said one professor. “There is no doubt that high-quality academic research benefits companies’ internal research and development efforts, offering scientific knowledge that the industry does not possess on its own, however, it’s about getting the right people in the door, and that takes a very proactive approach from the side of the institute.”

To resolve some of the biggest challenges in today’s global maritime industry, there is an overwhelming consensus that bringing together a global network of stakeholders must be inclusive of peers in academia, as they are the actors of change in tomorrow’s industry.

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EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MARITIME TALENT: WHY NEW ACADEMIC APPROACHES ARE REQUIRED FOR A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

APRIL 2022

GENDER DIVERSITY: Promoting Equal Opportunities Within the Sector Drives Global Trade Industry experts emphasise that one of the ways to address the talent gap in the maritime industry is by focusing on gender diversity.

As per the ‘2021 Seafarer Workforce Report’ from BIMCO and the International Chamber of Shipping, women represent only 1.2 percent of the global seafarer workforce.

A key priority in the industry over the last few years has been to extend equal opportunities to men and women, and this is reflected in the positive trend in gender balance, with the report estimating 24,059 women serving as seafarers, which is a 45.8 percent increase compared with the 2015 report.

While there is a significant rise in female representation, there is much work to be done to provide equal access to training and employment opportunities.

According to a leading expert on maritime affairs, “It is encouraging to see a massive uptake for job opportunities for women in maritime, and industry promoting a culture of gender diversity.

impact on the retention of a female workforce.

Gender diversity is instrumental in not just attracting talent and filling the gap, but also keeping it.”

Over the years the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has addressed the gender imbalance in maritime and strongly supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (gender equality). They have taken several initiatives to promote the recruitment, retention, and sustained employment of women in the maritime sector, including adopting a resolution to celebrate women in the industry and observing the International Day for Women in Maritime on 18 May every year.

“As the industry makes great headways to promote gender diversity, it’s important that organisations support wider access to training and employment for women and work collaboratively to foster an environment where women can grow and prosper,” added the expert.

Despite these efforts, maritime remains one of the most male dominated sectors and this also has an

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EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MARITIME TALENT: WHY NEW ACADEMIC APPROACHES ARE REQUIRED FOR A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

APRIL 2022

GREEN AGENDA: Incorporating Sustainability into Education and Business is a Must It has been the case in recent years that the global maritime and logistics industries have become mindful of the impact their operations are having on the environment.

Many within the industry have moved to align their strategies with global sustainable development agendas, such as the United Nations’ Global Compact and Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

And for those who have taken the first steps towards re-evaluating and mitigating their respective carbon footprints, a host of benefits have been realised because of their efforts.

In addition to reducing one’s carbon footprint and safeguarding the environment, sustainability holds numerous benefits in terms of reduced operational costs, increased customer loyalty and growth, and an improved image that makes one attractive to prospective talent.

Key areas of focus for the industry include the development of sustainable infrastructure, implementation of effective waste-disposal solutions, sustainable utilisation of marine resources to halt impact on the local environment, adoption of sustainable energy, as well as the provision of quality education and training for members of the logistics and maritime communities.

Realising a culture of sustainability across an organisation and the wider industry, however, needs to be cultivated alongside the professional development of up-and-coming logistics and maritime talent.

Educators have found that not only do sustainable development concepts need to be researched and defined to set the modern pedagogy, but training and education practices need to remain fluid in order to stay ahead with continued advancements across the sciences and within society.

In addition to developing skills around technical capability, critical thinking, and conceptualisation — all invaluable in handling day-to-day industry operations — students need to be equipped with knowledge of innovative sustainable developments and practices, while also possessing the necessary viewpoint and values necessary to shape a sustainable future.

“Alongside national efforts to realise aggressive net zero targets, the international maritime and logistics community has become acutely aware of their impact on the environment, as well as their contributions to the global effort to combat climate change,” noted a leading educator within the maritime community.

“In addition to employing the latest innovations to monitor and manage emissions and waste generated by global trade, it has become equally as imperative to expose the industry’s developing talent to the latest sustainable concepts and best practices to instil the necessary knowledge and values that are essential to realise a zero-emission and green future.”

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EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MARITIME TALENT: WHY NEW ACADEMIC APPROACHES ARE REQUIRED FOR A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

APRIL 2022

CONCLUSION Global supply chains, security, sustainability agenda and digitalisation have become critical parts of the modern maritime ecosystem, and therefore strong talent development continues to be a challenge for the industry.

To meet the rising demands for advanced skill sets and encourage more young people into training, it is pertinent to raise awareness around the different types of job opportunities in the maritime sector, offer research opportunities and learning around real-world issues, and maintain a diverse student quota.

We concluded that the maritime sector offers a promising career and innumerable opportunities for the next generation of maritime talent. As our own AD Ports Group, Managing Director and Group CEO, Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, has said: “The sector offers a vast career ecosystem both onshore and at sea, and presents a unique opportunity to be an essential driver of the global economy. At AD Ports Group, we welcome today’s new generation of maritime talent, to ensure the sector is future-ready for tomorrow.”

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