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The Global Onboard Training Programme (GOBT) : a comprehensive review
No full textA stable supply of qualified seafarers is a critical component of the global maritime logistics industry, which relies heavily on maritime transportation. According to the 2021 BIMCO Manpower Report, an additional 89,510 officers will be needed by 2026. In 2021 alone, there was already a deficit of 26,240 STCW-certified officers, clearly indicating that demand continues to outpace supply. The report also noted a 45.8% increase in the number of female seafarers since 2015, although they still represent only a small share of the overall workforce. Maritime Education and Training (MET) institutions around the world continue to provide training to develop competent and qualified seafarers. However, some IMO member states face significant challenges in meeting the STCW Convention (1978, as amended) requirement of 12 months of approved seagoing service. A major obstacle arises when MET institutions do not have access to a training ship or do not operate their own merchant fleet, making it physically impossible to meet the mandated seagoing requirements. As previously mentioned, the global shortage of certified officers makes these limitations a direct barrier to producing qualified seafarers. In addition, the maritime sector still suffers from a shortage of female professionals, and new female entrants often face further constraints due to various structural and social factors. This report, jointly prepared by WMU and KIMFT, shares the achievements of the GOBT programme over the past five years and explores approaches for ensuring its long-term sustainability
Pathways through permafrost : lessons from Arctic shipping, ocean technology, and environmental stewardship for the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean
No full textClimate change is having a significant impact on Earth’s polar regions; effective mitigation measures are urgently needed. The integration of cutting-edge ocean observation technologies, such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and gliders, will play a pivotal role in enhancing real-time understanding of ice dynamics, water properties, and ecosystem conditions. When embedded within maritime operations, these technologies contribute significantly to risk reduction and the sustainable navigation of increasingly trafficked Arctic routes. As ice levels in the Arctic (and the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica) continue to decline, it is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy that demand for icebreakers will intensify in the coming years, as maritime traffic is expected to increase in those (still quite frozen and treacherous) regions. Rel- evant findings from the “Future Ocean Programme” of the Sasaka- wa Global Ocean Institute of the World Maritime University (WMU) further emphasize the need for a blueprint for emerging ocean technologies, one that addresses legal, geopolitical, safety, data, and financial challenges, while also taking into account risks such as operational autonomy and accountability for these systems, their ecological impact on marine life, liability gaps, fragmented ocean data, and the development of a unified global ocean gover- nance framework. Importantly, lessons from both the Arctic and the Antarctic can provide complementary insights into how humanity manages global commons such as the high seas and polar oceans, ensuring environmental protection while enabling responsible innovation and navigation
Climate emergency and global shipping : charting new governance routes through analogical reasoning
No full textThis research aims to examine the impacts of the climate emergency on global shipping through analogical reasoning. The study began by analysing the impact of the climate emergency on global shipping, specifically examining variables that affect overall international shipping delivery, including infrastructure, economic, and social implications. However, due to the paucity of empirical data, the study relied on analogical analysis, a well-established theoretical approach primarily applied in cognitive sciences. It retrieved inferences from the COVID-19 (source) and proposes global shipping attributes (target), applying structure mapping theory and knowledge transfer mechanism. The study employs four distinct methods: an expert survey, a systematic literature review, the Delphi method, and semi- structured interviews. The initial results identified eight key variables for global shipping that are impacted by the climate emergency, including global change in marine traffic, volume of trade in goods, changes in international freight rates, global supply chain connectivity, passenger and crew mobility, fulfilment of contractual obligations, restrictions on movement, and human well-being. It further identified climate adaptation policies under a climate emergency scenario, including cargo and vessel mobility, emergency management, resilience, risk management, autonomous integration, crisis management, international cooperation, stakeholder engagement, lockdown policies, digital integration, sustainability, and supportive measures. The research concluded by suggesting fifteen climate adaptation policies around three primary critical areas including material/ physical, systemic and normative, validated through a Delphi method. The study acknowledges the significant achievement of the IMO in aligning international shipping climate mitigation goals to the Paris Agreement. However, it emphasized the fragmented, reactive, and weakly institutionalized adaptation governance in global shipping compared to mitigation and proposes key elements of implementation, coordination, and communication for climate adaptation governance for global shipping. The research contributions include a theoretical contribution in the application of analogical reasoning in adaptation governance development, the application of systematic review in source analogs identification
From the Baltic to the Mediterranean: A Comparative review of cloud-based maritime cybersecurity strategies
No full textThis study provides a comparative review of how cloud integration is reshaping cybersecurity in the maritime sector, focusing on the Baltic and Mediterranean basins. It aims to identify how regional threat landscapes, governance frameworks, and industrial ecosystems influence both vulnerabilities and resilience in a sector increasingly reliant on digital infrastructures. Methodologically, the paper adopts a qualitative and interpretive approach, combining policy and regulatory analysis, technical assessment of OT/IT and cloud convergence, and case studies such as the NotPetya incident and the cybersecurity architecture of Fincantieri and its subsidiary E-phors. The paper contributes to the literature by (1) systematising regional approaches to maritime cyber resilience, (2) mapping transferable security patterns between two contrasting maritime ecosystems, and (3) integrating an industrial case study into a comparative governance framework. Theoretically, it extends maritime cybersecurity research by situating cloud adoption within regional security ecologies; practically, it highlights the managerial value of security-by-design practices, Zero Trust adoption, and cross-regional learning. Policy recommendations include the creation of EU-wide federated identity registries, regional threat intelligence hubs, and lifecycle-integrated cybersecurity frameworks across the maritime supply chain
Shore leave: rare, brief and in danger of extinction
Full text linkShore leave for seafarers is generally accepted as a custom, if not a right, essential for well- being and pressure relief from the responsibilities of life on board. However, it is clear that the
ability of seafarers to take shore leave has been seriously eroded and may even be facing extinction. The combination of workload on board and limited time in port make it virtually impossible for seafarers to make time for shore leave. Commercial pressures have increased, and there is a serious risk that facilities available for seafarers will decline due to a lack of demand. The culprits are multiple. Without sufficient crew on board to cover the workload, companies fail to create schedules that allow for shore leave. Increasing numbers of inspections add to the burden. Port states can focus on security and efficient port operations without any compulsion to facilitate leave for foreign crew. The lack of easily accessible facilities and high transport costs dampen demand for shore leave, and seafarers themselves make the rational choice to stay on board. The fact that there is no single point of responsibility for the problem makes it challenging, but not impossible, to focus on effective solutions. The purpose of this research is to quantify the current levels of shore leave in terms of frequency and length of time spent ashore and to identify the barriers. The survey benefits from a significant and representative sample size of 5,879 valid responses. It indicates that more than a quarter of seafarers do not get any shore leave at all, and a third have only one or two incidents of shore leave over the period of their contracts (6.6 months average). When they do manage to take shore leave, 47% of those responding affirmatively spent less than three hours ashore, and 46.5% between three and six hours. The negative results were strongly correlated with the vessel types of offshore vessels and tankers. Not surprisingly, cruise ships and passenger ship crews were less adversely impacted. Officers reported going ashore less often than ratings and other ranks. The depth of feeling on the subject from seafarers is evident from their responses to the open questions. Many focused on port state bureaucracy and security restrictions, while others highlighted the impossibility of balancing work/rest hours, watches, and compulsory overtime.
8 At a time when mental health and well-being are recognised as important considerations for seafarers’ health and safety on board, access to shore leave should be promoted to ensure the safe management of the vessel. Further, given the looming crew shortages, affording decent opportunities for relaxation from work should be a priority for attracting and retaining crew. All stakeholders, from flag States to port States, agents to shipping companies and seafarers themselves, need to recognise that the current regime is leading towards the extinction of shore leave as a viable concept. All parties need to collaborate to ensure that this vital component of life at sea is maintained and expanded.https://commons.wmu.se/lib_reports/1101/thumbnail.jp
CAPFISH Project Report : Summer Academy for the Pacific Islands
Full text linkThe CAPFISH Project was created in response to an identified need for capacity-building to address illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and related matters - a complex problem affecting aquatic ecosystems, coastal communities, fishers and fish workers, and economic and national security. Over the last four years, the CAPFISH Project has provided training and educational materials on IUU fishing to developing country administrations around the world, most recently with a two-week regional Summer Academy for the Pacific Islands. This Academy ran for two weeks and included delegates from fisheries, labour, safety, maritime, foreign affairs, and enforcement administrations in the Pacific Islands region. Speakers comprised representatives of regional and sub-regional fisheries bodies, UN Agencies working in the region, NGOs, academic institutions, enforcement agencies, and independent regional experts. This report presents key takeaways from Summer Academy lectures, biographies of speakers, and details of attendees, as well as providing participant breakdowns by gender and region.https://commons.wmu.se/lib_reports/1102/thumbnail.jp
WMU Maritime Affairs Conference 2025 : transforming a maritime future : digitalization and decarbonization
No full texthttps://commons.wmu.se/lib_books/1013/thumbnail.jp
Analysis of safety investment - economic benefit in arctic shipping to shipping companies and the arctic coastal states
Full text linkGlobal warming severely affects the Arctic region, including ice coverage and thickness. In contrast, it allows unprecedented navigation opportunities for more extended periods each year, attracting maritime stakeholders because of the potential distance reduction compared to shipping corridor routes. However, mitigating Arctic navigation hazards requires safety investments, especially from shipowners and Arctic coastal states. When allocating limited resources to safety, decision-makers should efficiently prioritize their investments. This research aims to determine how to optimize shipping companies and Arctic coastal states’ safety investments. It begins with a comprehensive analysis of safety investments and safety economic benefits in Arctic shipping. Then, an extensive literature allows to identify and classify investments and benefits. The prioritization of safety investments is based on a multi-attribute decision-making methodology, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). Subsequently, this research applies the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess the safety input-output efficiency for shipping companies and Arctic coastal states. It measures the efficiency of safety investment in terms of economic benefits contributed and helps managers optimize resource allocation. The affirmative conclusions of this study are that the Arctic coastal states should establish modern infrastructure in the Arctic and advanced icebreaker fleets, while ship operators must invest in their personnel and new technologies, particularly training and ice monitoring technology. In addition, developing weather forecasting and strengthening Arctic seafaring expertise are also the most critical future investments required in the region. The findings in this study provide valuable insights into future safety investments and practical tools for decision-makers to invest in Arctic shipping safety
Maritime digitalization and decarbonization: a sustainable future
Full text linkThe book with the title “Maritime Digitalization and Decarbonization: A Sustainable Future” is the second major outcome following the publication of the Proceedings of WMU Maritime Week (WMW) 2024.
The purpose of WMU Maritime Week 2024 (WMW) was to convene experts from diverse sectors to discuss contemporary maritime issues, generate practical and academic insights, and contribute to the advancement of the international maritime community. Following the success of WMW 2024, the aim is to deliver a top-notch annual conference in the maritime field, producing practical and academic outputs through in-depth discussions of critical contemporary issues in the maritime field.
WMW 2024 featured 36 presentations and 10 keynote addresses, resulting in 17 voluntarily submitted book chapters. The chapters were organized into four sections: Technology, Regulation, Policy, and Information. Among the 17 chapters, 10 were revised based on editorial reviews, while 7 chapters were included as originally submitted due to time constraints or the conceptual nature of their content. Based on conference topics, the submitted chapters were categorized into four themes for inclusion in this book: Part 1: Technology (7 chapters), Part 2: Regulation (3 chapters), Part 3: Policy (4 chapters), and Part 4: Information paper (3 chapters). Some chapters address a combination of technology, policy, and regulation. In cases where themes overlap, they are classified based on the predominant focus.https://commons.wmu.se/lib_books/1012/thumbnail.jp
Improving the performance of multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development in coastal areas: Sweden (Hanö Bay) as a case study
No full textCoastal areas are vital for both ecosystems and human societies. Comprising diverse terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, coastal areas provide us with essential resources and services. However, these areas are under threat from human activities and climate change, necessitating new governance structures to ensure their sustainable management and conservation. This research investigates how to improve the performance of local multi-stakeholder partnerships (M-SPs) in coastal areas, promoted as key mechanisms for achieving sustainable development goals. By drawing on stakeholder theory and using Pattberg & Widerberg’s (2014) analytical framework with nine building blocks for successful M-SPs as a foundation, the study examined drivers, challenges, and success factors of local M-SPs, as well as how these factors relate to one another. Additionally, a qualitative case study approach was adopted, focusing on a coastal M-SP situated in the south-east coast of Sweden, specifically Hanö Bay. Furthermore, mixed methods were employed to collect and triangulate the data necessary to delve deeper into the nine success factors identified within the analytical framework as applied to the case study. These methods encompassed a scoping review, focus group discussions, questionnaires, and participant observations. To validate and frame findings, a reference case in Canada, the Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP), was selected for focus group discussions, leveraging the existing collaboration between the two coastal regions. The research identifies the critical role of relational aspects in improving the performance of coastal M-SPs. The current analytical framework, while acknowledging the importance of partner selection and power dynamics, overlooks interpersonal dynamics and conflicts. Empirical findings, supported by stakeholder theory and recent research, emphasize the necessity of addressing these relational challenges to foster collaboration. Thus, incorporating “relational aspects” as a tenth distinct factor in the framework is recommended. Secondly, the findings illuminate the intricate and interconnected nature of all factors in the analytical framework influencing the performance of coastal M-SPs, further emphasizing the necessity of adopting a holistic approach and addressing all ten factors in concert to enhance the efficacy of such partnerships. The study makes theoretical contributions to the analytical framework used and to stakeholder theory as a whole, as well as practical and policy contributions to the use of M-SPs as an implementation mechanism for sustainable development of coastal areas