LISTEN TO SEAFARERS TO ACCELERATE THE SAFE ADOPTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Preparing maritime professionals for the challenges ahead requires a stronger focus on human-centred training, fatigue management and seafarer-informed skills development.

In an exclusive interview during Posidonia 2026, held from 1 to 5 June in Athens, Tim Slingsby, Director of Skills and Education, Lloyd’s Register Foundation, emphasises that the pace of adoption of new technologies and fuels will depend heavily on how seafarers perceive them, and whether training systems evolve fast enough to support safe operations.

For Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the development of soft skills is directly connected to its wider safety mission. As Tim Slingsby explains, the Foundation exists “to engineer a safer world,” and one of the ways it seeks to achieve this is by supporting safer outcomes across the maritime system.

When discussing soft skills, such as leadership and cultural awareness, Slingsby says the key question is always how these capabilities can make people safer.

“Whether that’s leadership or cultural awareness, or anything like that, we’re thinking: how will this make people more safe?” he says.

Developing training with seafarers

A key example of this approach is the Foundation’s work with HELMEPA through the METAVASEA programme. With the Foundation’s funding, HELMEPA has recently developed a soft-skills masterclass designed to reflect the realities and needs of seafarers themselves.

According to Slingsby, what makes this initiative important is that it has not been imposed from the outside, but shaped with direct seafarer input.

“It’s not done to seafarers but has been developed with them, so it takes their insight, their expertise and their understanding, and creates something that is more relevant,” he explains.

This seafarer-informed approach is especially important at a time when the maritime workforce is being asked to adapt to new fuels, new technologies and new operational demands.

Crew shortages as a safety concern

The shortage of qualified crew members is a concern on several levels, Slingsby notes. If there are not enough crew members available, this creates a safety risk. If crew members are not trained properly for emerging technologies and fuels, this also becomes a safety issue.

He also highlights the risk of cognitive overload, as seafarers are exposed to multiple training requirements, systems and operational tasks.

Rethinking training delivery

Slingsby believes that maritime training must move beyond traditional models and make better use of new technologies.

Rather than relying on what he describes as a largely 19th- and 20th-century paper-based system, he sees an opportunity to use artificial intelligence and data analytics to create more personalised learning paths for seafarers.

These tools, he suggests, could help make training more efficient and better suited to individual needs.

“The advent of new technologies will ultimately allow us to use things like artificial intelligence and data analytics to create personalised learning paths for seafarers,” he says.

At the same time, he stresses that training should be designed carefully, particularly given the level of fatigue already being reported by seafarers.

“I’m not saying that the answer to that is simply to throw more training at them,” Slingsby explains. “The answer is to think about how training is delivered and how seafarers are asked to operate ships.”

This, he says, requires closer attention to human-centred design, including the processes and systems seafarers are expected to use onboard.

The misconception that there is still time

When asked about common misconceptions around the future skills seafarers will need, Slingsby identifies one major issue: the belief that the industry still has enough time to adapt.

“I think one of the major misconceptions is that we have time,” he says.

He recalls that, not long ago, the industry was discussing the need to train 800,000 seafarers in alternative fuels by the mid-2030s. While the world is changing and that figure may no longer be exact, the underlying challenge remains clear: technologies are advancing faster than the maritime training and education system is changing.

For Slingsby, this creates an urgent need to modernise the way seafarers are prepared for new operational realities.

Updating skills for a changing industry

The ongoing update of the STCW framework is an important process, but Slingsby cautions that regulatory change alone may not be enough to keep pace with the speed of technological development.

By the time agreements are reached and implemented, he suggests, the framework may already risk becoming outdated.

This reflects a broader concern: the maritime sector cannot rely only on traditional education and training structures to prepare the workforce for the future. Instead, it needs more agile, responsive and seafarer-centred approaches that can adapt as technologies, fuels and operational risks evolve.

Listening to seafarers

For Slingsby, the most important message to maritime stakeholders is simple: listen to seafarers.

Their perception of new technologies and fuels, he explains, will play a decisive role in determining how quickly those systems are adopted. From the Foundation’s perspective, the pace of adoption also matters because it affects how quickly new systems can be made safer, and how effectively they can improve safety for seafarers and ships.

“My key message is simply put: listen to seafarers, because it’s their perception of new technologies and new fuels that will determine the pace of their adoption,” he concludes.