Empowering professional women in the Maritime World: the WMU contribution

Promoting the increased participation of women in the economic fabric of developing countries is a fundamental goal of the United Nations. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the World Maritime University (WMU) are working to bring about a sustained change in gender imbalance in the maritime sector, to bring the skills and expertise of women to bear on a vital global industry. This report details WMU’s strategies to date, the conference held by WMU in April 2008, Empowering Professional Women in the Maritime World, and the Conference Declaration and Resolution supported by members of the IMO Technical Cooperation at its 58^th session in June 2008.     

Nautical training systems and the occupational behaviour of seamen: the Israeli experience

One of the most serious and persisting problems confronting the shipping companies of all the developed maritime nations is the retention of seafarers who will yield long periods of service at sea. Turnover and wastage involves considerable expenses in recruiting and training of new seafarers. One of the means for the recruitment and retention of seafarers is the vocational nautical school system. In contrast to general education, where the objectives are diffuse, vocational institutions have very specific functions. Their achievements are therefore generally measured by means of the relative number of graduates who enter and remain in the industry for which they were trained. The present study examines the problem of the commitment to the maritime occupation of graduates of nautical schools in Israel in recent years, and it attempts to evaluate nautical education by examining the proportion of graduates who actually entered the maritime occupation and the extent of their stability at sea. No attempt is made to evaluate the economic efficiency of the nautical training system.     

Maritime policy in Scotland

This paper begins by defining the meaning of the term ‘maritime policy’. Since devolution in the UK, the opening of the new Scottish parliament in 1998 and the creation of the Scottish Executive, little effort has been made to establish a distinct maritime policy for Scotland. As was evident prior to devolution, the primary emphasis from any maritime policy perspective has continued to be a focus on lifeline island ferry services. This ignores significant developments in several other key maritime transport sectors, and this paper provides examples of areas that require some form of policy response, including intra-European short sea shipping, UK coastal shipping, urban/river transport and global container shipping. Long-standing institutional bias against maritime transport coupled with subsidy devoted almost entirely to land transport systems has resulted in a quite distorted marketplace. This suggests that a maritime policy is now imperative if maritime transport is to play a more significant role in the overall transport system. Further discussion centres on the need to consider, from a Scottish policy perspective, the role of various state-sponsored maritime service providers and how these bodies might fit better within evolving policy. The conclusion is that formulation of a maritime policy by the Scottish Executive is overdue and that a degree of restructuring of transport responsibilities within the Executive, combined with adequate resource allocation towards the maritime industry, will be necessary in order that market distortions can be overcome, so enabling Scotland to fully exploit the competitive and environmental advantages that maritime transport can provide.     

Maritime policy in Scotland

This paper begins by defining the meaning of the term 'maritime policy'. Since devolution in the UK, the opening of the new Scottish parliament in 1998 and the creation of the Scottish Executive, little effort has been made to establish a distinct maritime policy for Scotland. As was evident prior to devolution, the primary emphasis from any maritime policy perspective has continued to be a focus on lifeline island ferry services. This ignores significant developments in several other key maritime transport sectors, and this paper provides examples of areas that require some form of policy response, including intra-European short sea shipping, UK coastal shipping, urban/river transport and global container shipping. Long-standing institutional bias against maritime transport coupled with subsidy devoted almost entirely to land transport systems has resulted in a quite distorted marketplace. This suggests that a maritime policy is now imperative if maritime transport is to play a more significant role in the overall transport system. Further discussion centres on the need to consider, from a Scottish policy perspective, the role of various state-sponsored maritime service providers and how these bodies might fit better within evolving policy. The conclusion is that formulation of a maritime policy by the Scottish Executive is overdue and that a degree of restructuring of transport responsibilities within the Executive, combined with adequate resource allocation towards the maritime industry, will be necessary in order that market distortions can be overcome, so enabling Scotland to fully exploit the competitive and environmental advantages that maritime transport can provide.     

评析与探讨ILO新海事劳工公约

评析了国际海事劳工组织(ILO)通过的新的《海事劳工公约》、产生的背景、公约的构架与主要内容,探讨了公约的主要特点,公约将带来的影响和变化,以及公约生效后政府主管机关、船公司、海员以及有关航海院校、研究机构应采取哪些履约措施。指出各方面应重视公约的出台,并积极采取相应的行动,以满足即将生效的公约的要求,从而保障海员的基本权利,使海员在船工作更舒适、更安全、更“体面”。     

Learning to navigate: the centrality of instructions and assessments for developing students’ professional competencies in simulator-based training

Despite the promises of simulations to contribute to learning in safe-critical domains, research suggests that simulators are poorly implemented in maritime education and training systems. From the current state of research, it is far from evident how instruction in simulator-based should be designed and how skills trained in bridge simulators should be assessed and connected to professional practice. On this background, this article aims to investigate the role of instructions and assessments for developing students’ professional competencies in simulation-based learning environments. The research draws on ethnographic fieldwork and detailed analyses of video-recorded data to examine how maritime instructors make use of simulator technologies in a navigation course. Our results reveal an instructional practice in which the need to account for general principles of good seamanship and anti-collision regulations is at the core of basic navigation training. The meanings of good seamanship and the rules of the sea are hard to teach in abstraction because their application relies on an infinite number of contingencies that have to be accounted for in every specific case. Based on this premise, we stress the importance of instructional support throughout training (from briefing thorough scenario to debriefing) in order for the instructor to bridge theory and practice in ways that develop students’ competencies. Our results highlight, in detail, how simulator technologies enable displaying and assessing such competencies by supporting instructors to continuously monitor, assess, and provide feedback to the students during training sessions. Moreover, our results show how simulator-based training is related to the work conditions on board a seagoing vessel through the instructor’s systematic accomplishments. Finally, our results highlight the close relationship between technical and non-technical skills in navigation, and how these are intertwined in training for everyday maritime operations.     

The perceived importance of employment considerations in the decisions of students to enrol on undergraduate courses in Maritime Business in Britain

In recent years, external pressures on maritime businesses have increased their need to employ high calibre personnel, educated to respond effectively to these pressures. Set against this requirement, the onus of acquiring a university education has shifted to the individual, as state subsidies to individuals seeking to undertake higher education in British universities have declined, and many corporate training programmes have been aimed at meeting the needs of an organization rather than the individuals within them. If the future supply of graduates is to match ongoing industrial requirements, one needs to understand why students enrol on particular courses, and how importantly they perceive employment considerations to be when making their decisions. This paper reports on a survey of why students at several British universities chose to enrol on undergraduate courses in Maritime Business, and considers the implications of its findings for ensuring that an adequate supply of suitably educated graduates will continue to be available to meet industrial needs.     

An analysis of decision-making processes in multicultural maritime scenarios

With three research studies recently carried out the pros and cons of multicultural, multilingual crews have given a 'second' food for thought:

• The Seafarers' International Research Centre (SIRC): 'Transnational Seafarer Communities' and the research, 'Finding a balance: companies, seafarers and family life', linked to this [1]. The latter presented in Maritime Policy & Management, no. 1, January-March 2003.
• The Swedish National Maritime Museum (SNMM): Isolde av Singapore [2]. This research and sociological documentation will be reviewed in a later issue of Maritime Policy & Management.
• Horck, J., 'A culturally mixed student body; the WMU experience in fostering future decision makers' [3].

There is a growing conviction among seafarers and persons working in the land-based sector of the maritime industry (including ex-seafarers) that staff onboard and on shore should be prepared to work with crews and groups whose members come from different countries and cultures and speak different languages. The problem, though, is which culture will have to surrender and which will dominate? Will a third culture become the norm for common survival? Perhaps to understand oneself and be knowledgeable about others is a better way to avoid eventual conflicts.

There are nearly no research findings on how a programme should comprise the aims of facilitating comprehension and appreciation of influences, from differences in cultural backgrounds, on group performance and decisions.

This paper reports on the research carried out on students in the Shipping Management and the Maritime Education and Training courses at World Maritime University (WMU). How do post-graduate students holding unlimited certificates of competency, as well as holders of university degrees with experience in the maritime industry and maritime administration, come to a consensus decision?

The findings in this research are discussed in balance with the results from both the SIRC and the SNMM research which is interesting because the results, in some significant issues, are not the same.

A phenomenographic approach has been used to find out that a multicultural group is not free from working problems. Can cultural differences, perhaps, be developed from an assumed hindrance into a catalyst for stimulating national appreciation and cooperation? Perhaps the opposite is true; it might be a bottleneck for improvements in safety as formulated in the STCW95 and the ISM Code.     

Towards safety improvement: implementation and assessment of new standards of competence for Electro-Technical Officers on ships

The paper deals with education of ship engineers as an integral part of maritime policy in global shipping. The central problem, how to reconcile technological advancement with training en route to improving safety, is defined. A complete conceptual model for solving a central question is formulated and described. At the beginning, a short analysis of technological advances and the need for training is presented. Next, the basic components of conceptual model, including implementation and assessment of new standards of competences for Electro-Technical Officers in the wake of Maritime Education and Training (MET) development are discussed. A key point of the assessment procedure is focused on the formulation of criterion defining the impact of new standards on the given processes characterizing a professional carrier development of seafarers. These processes, which mean certification process and recruitment of candidates to seafarer profession, are strongly linked with and influenced on MET development and improving the safety of shipping. Empirical application by pointing the Polish case study to the framework of conceptual model under consideration is shown and analysed. Finally, the future works as well as the concluding remarks are formulated and commented on.     

“ECDIS操作”培训与发证探析

随着电子海图系统在海船上的普及,有关“ECDIS操作”培训与发证工作已经变得非常急迫。针对“ECDIS操作”培训的必要性以及国外有关的培训、发证办法进行了研讨,并就我国海事部门、船舶公司和航运培训机构如何开展该项培训与发证,提出了一些设想。     

浅谈新常态下海员的现状与可持续发展

海员是我国从海洋大国向海洋强国转变的中流砥柱,他们为发展国民经济、保证航运安全和扩大对外开放做出了巨大的贡献。但是从当前形势来分析,我国对海员的教育培训力度和关怀力度却远远跟不上海洋经济的发展。文中主要指出我国海员目前所面临的发展现状,结合国外海员的发展模式及可吸取的经验,对我国海员的可持续发展做出较为全面的策略探讨。     

Management and labour in shipping: A role for co-operatives

The employment and management policies of the shipping industry are in legal and administrative confusion. The shipping industry is struggling with an unworkable global governance based on flag state sovereignty and a sanctionless international regulatory regime. Seafarers suffer most from this state of affairs, but so do the shipping industry’s public image. Few co-operatives of maritime workers exist in national or international shipping. A new employment theory is long overdue. Human centred management policies can only attain their full potential through co-operative or mutual associations. This paper describes the application of enlightened and socially conscious management principles to the shipping industry. Seafarers’ co-operatives are the future organisational building blocks of the shipping industry. Co-operatives can rescue maritime workers from developing countries from exploitation and the debilitating effects of casual labour by providing “all in one” seagoing and shore based professional careers. Seafarers’ co-operatives can solve the shipping industry’s maritime training and education problems. The seven universal principles of co-operative management will guide shipping management in setting human centred objectives that command respect of those who come in contact with the shipping industry.     

The relationship between maritime education and employer trust: the structural equation modelling (SEM) perspective

The research is aimed to identify factors in the maritime education and training (MET) system and its relationship on maritime labour employers’ (MLEs) trust based on current practice in Malaysia. A questionnaire survey was used, and the respondents were the participants of a related conference in Malaysia. The structural equation modelling technique was used to explain the relationships in the stipulated research model. The test of structural model confirms that the model is adequate in explaining the MLEs’ trust. The results reveal that the perceived MET institutions’ efficiency has significant direct effects on the MLEs’ trust and the perceived seafarers’ competency. In addition, the perceived implementation of International Convention was found to significantly affect the seafarers’ competency. However, the perceived seafarers’ competency was not found to directly affect the MLEs’ trust. This study suggests that the MLEs’ trust is an important indicator and feedback on it can be used to further enhance the current MET system and its policies. Thus, one of the strategies is to develop a policy in order to achieve an effective maritime education and training. This is to support the maritime communities in progressing towards a more sustainable development in the MET in the context of enhancing the maritime safety.     

US shipping policy under conditions of a new world economic and political environment

The maritime policy of the US has evolved over more than 100 years from the support of US shipping through mail and fleet auxiliary contracts before the turn of the century, to the present array of direct and indirect Government aids and regulations based on the assumption that a strong maritime industry composed of both US-flag shipping and US-shipbuilding capacity is essential for the economic well-being and defence of the country. Notwithstanding massive direct and indirect aid to the US merchant marine, amounting to well over a billion dollars a year in recent years, US shipping and shipbuilding has declined dramatically and now comprises less than 3% of world shipping. Only 2.8% of US foreign trade by volume and 6% by value is today carried in US flag ships. Government aids constitute well over 33% of total revenues of US-flag shipping.

The traditional argument for US Government support has been the need for cost parity to permit US-flag shipping to compete effectively in international trade against foreign shipping serving the same routes with presumably lower operating costs. This argument is difficult to sustain today, as vessel costs of many other industrialized nations are now about equal to those of US-flag ships.

In 1970 the US enacted a new, vastly more liberal, maritime act for the support of the US maritime industry. Notwithstanding its even more liberal terms and elimination of the strict cost-parity interpretation, the US maritime industry continues its decline. The recent bankruptcy of two old, established subsidized shipping companies has caused tremors in the industry, yet no new ideas, policies, or plans seem to be forthcoming. It is the objective of this paper to study the development and effects of various historic US Government policies relating to the support of the US maritime industry, and evaluate the positions taken by proponents or opponents of the maritime policy leading to the policy development.

The decision processes are studied by evaluating literature on the evolution of Congressional, administration, industry, and labour interest and positions on the issue of Government aid to the maritime industry. The impact and effectiveness of various elements of past and present US maritime policy is evaluated in relation to the stated objectives. The alternatives to these policies are reviewed in the light of the changing US position in international trade, military strategy, and political objectives. In addition the effectiveness of the present and alternative policies is evaluated as it is and will be affected by changing technology in use, composition of ownership, and operations of US-flag shipping and shipbuilding.     

An analysis and comparison of multinational officers of the watch in the global maritime labor market

ABSTRACT

Officer of the watch (OOW) is an important part of the maritime labor market. For many years, countries have been improving their development of OOWs for the maritime market, in terms of both quantity and quality. As the supply of qualified OOWs for maritime transportation is such an important issue, shipping companies recruit multinational OOWs for both economic and socio-cultural reasons. This study aims to identify the qualifications of an ideal officer that holds office on commercial ships, and to make a comparison among Filipino, Chinese, Indian, Eastern European and Turkish OOWs. The research takes into account expert opinions of a number of shipping companies that employ multinational seafarers. A Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) technique is applied in this study to assist in the comparison of officers. A number of main and sub-criteria are outlined to determine both positive and negative aspects of OOWs from the selected countries for decision making purposes. This study allows maritime countries to evaluate their maritime education and training policies for selection and assessment of OOWs.     

航海模拟器的现状与展望

该文根据世界各海运国家现有航海模拟器的现状和它们教学培训中的实际使用情况，以及新修订的１９７８年国际海员培训、发证和值班标准公约中有关航海模拟器教学培训的要求，简要地介绍了航海模拟器的现状及其在教学培训中的应用，并就航海模拟器在日后的发展及其在教学培训中的新应用作了展望。同时还就如何改进和发展我国航海模拟器及相应的教学培训工作，使其适应国内外海运事业发展的需要提出了几点设想。     

Vocational and academic approaches to maritime education and training (MET): Trends,challenges and opportunities

Traditional seafarer training has always focused on the acquisition and use of practical skills. The prevailing view is that, while this approach addresses a degree of cognitive skills, it focuses on and gives much more emphasis to the acquisition of hands-on practical skills for the performance of specific tasks. On the other hand, academic education has been seen to be much more focused on the development of in-depth analytical and critical thinking skills; cognitive skills that are less reliant on hands-on task-oriented training, but stress critical reading and discussion. The global trend in maritime education and training is increasingly to link an essentially vocational education that provides specific and restricted competence outcomes with more general or deeper academic components leading to an academic qualification. This trend has led to some dilemmas for curriculum development, for training legislation in a global industry, and for achieving desired learning outcomes in a professional setting (in the shipping industry). This paper discusses some of the challenges arising from this trend and the opportunities the trend offers.     

航海教育模式及航海院校管理体制的比较研究

随着ＳＴＣＷ 新公约的生效和实施,航海教育改革在世界范围展开。本文从航海教育模式和院校管理体制两个视角比较研究国内外航海教育的经验和特点,阐述中国航海教育改革的必要性和迫切性     

Conceptual framework for Comparing University baccalaureate programmes in shipping management

For a long time, a maritime education meant the education of a mariner where technical knowledge of seafaring was taught. However, shipping has evolved into a global and sophisticated business where two kinds of managers are required: one that deals with the operation of the vessel and the other that deals with the shore-side business. The education landscape for shipping has also evolved with time. A mariner’s education has evolved from apprenticeship on a ship to a professional certificate from maritime academies. The shore-side business is traditionally staffed by master mariners that made the career transition from sea to shore but the current staffing trend is to employ graduates schooled in business and/or management. It has been long recognised that shore-side business personnel should ideally be also knowledgeable in vessel operations. Under this scenario, several maritime degree programmes have cropped up around the world to bridge the knowledge gap of shore-side business personnel. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of maritime education and selected maritime degree programmes around the world and proposes a conceptual framework for comparing the programmes. The conceptual framework serves as a guide for evaluating maritime education and an aid to curriculum design where choices of courses need to be made to fit into a 3-year or 4-year study programme.     

WMU/Nautical Institute Joint Annual Seminar 2010 — Regulation & Best Practice — Getting the balance right

This paper is a report about the 2010 WMU/Nautical Institute Joint Annual Seminar. WMU and the Nautical Institute address issues related to Regulation and Best Practice in joint seminars. This year the discussions focused on legal and implementation issues related to best practice in shipping.