” Seafarers are increasingly having to self-fund their training – with
43% having to pay for their own training and 17% spending 10%-20% of
their income on training 47% of seafarers were less happy than usual.”
Engineroom simulator at Warsash maritime training
centre, Solent University.
69%
EXPECTED
E-LEARNING TO
INCREASE
FURTHER IN THE
YEAR AHEAD.
FINLANDS SJÖFART SUOMEN MERENKULKU 49
in general, view the training they receive favourably –
whether in the context of shipping companies or in
maritime education and training institutions. Barely half
consider that the training quality standards are high.
The report warns that this finding is worrying and
should be addressed by all stakeholders.
‘It is one thing to have systems in place and quality
certification that purport to show optimal training levels.
It is quite another to have these systems work such that
the recipients of the training are competent and deem
themselves as such, thus boosting their confidence to
take appropriate actions in high-risk situations.’
Vessel operators said the top four factors determining
their training commitments were the desire to reduce
accidents, to comply with regulatory requirements, to
manage crew competency and to increase commercial
efficiency and effectiveness.
Operators are concerned about the increasing age
profile of their officers and the long-term loss of knowledge
and experience.
However, the majority of seafarers feel that their
employers do not assess how the training they receive
affects their performance. Although 50% of operators and
79% of training institutions follow externally defined
standards for training quality, there is ‘room for improvement
in quality assurance of learner assessments, in
particular with reference to alignment of intended
learning outcomes, learning activities and learner assessments
in the context of vessel operators’.
A relatively low percentage of seafarers feel that their
feedback is considered by employers when offering
suggestions for improved training and only a small
percentage feel that their instructors make an effort to
provide feedback on their training progress. More than
three-quarters of the seafarers taking part in the survey
said that their employers do not assess the impact of
training on their work performance.
Seafarers said they most frequently received training
related to safety, ship operations and environmental
protection, and least frequently had training on crew
welfare and health.
Asked what additional training they would most like
to have, more than 18% of seafarers cited simulator
training, followed by ship handling and practical on-thejob
training.
Other areas of additional training that seafarers would
welcome include accident investigation, cross-vessel
operation, training on different equipment, emergency
preparedness, ship automation and electronics, mental
health, and transferring skills
and knowledge shore-side.
More than 40% of
seafarers said they did not
receive mentoring or
coaching, and between 45%
to 50% report high or medium
amounts of simulation or
e-learning in their training.
The research was completed at the
end of May 2020, just when the full impact of Covid-19 was
being felt globally. MarTID said the full impact of the
pandemic upon seafarer training will be assessed in the
next survey.
‘Seafarers continue to serve the global community as
facilitators of a key link in the global logistics chain,
particularly when the challenging events of the Covid-19
pandemic are considered,’ World Maritime University
president Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry said. ‘Their
competence, development, knowledge, skill retention and
their transfer to actual work settings are as critical as
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