Wake up call to IMO and maritime industry

The maritime industry is facing an opportunity not to follow the usual paths, when it comes to competence building in relation to newly introduced technology. This time we may be able to act proactively and avoid unnecessary accidents caused by improper use of new technology and lack of basic understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the new systems being tested in the merchant fleet by first movers.

We are now facing new solutions providing operational optimisation, ability to carry more cargo and increased safety through application of artificial intelligence, virtual & augmented reality, machine learning, etc. and it is all great an beneficial to the industry. However, lessons should have taught us to consider building the competences of the users on board the ships in due time ensuring a safe operation of the new technology, and it may require that the maritime authorities with IMO in the lead for once make clear requirements regarding familiarisation training. ECDIS proved, what happens, when new technology is introduced without proper guidelines for how to train the navigators. ECDIS was considered a digitalisation of the paper charts and should not pose a major change in the way navigation is performed. However, time proved the opposite. A series of ECDIS assisted groundings occurred. Navigators were challenged with the digital tools made available in a system defined by legislators and designed by engineers for engineers with very limited understanding of how paper chart tasks were performed. Although IMO had defined the IMO Model Course 1.27 for ECDIS, it was not mandatory to begin with. STCW have requirements for crew familiarisation towards safety systems on board ships, but the requirements are very vague and no efforts were done in the beginning to drive forward ECDIS familiarisation training. It was not until MAIB released a devastating report on ECDIS assisted groundings, that MCA came up with the first clear requirements to ECDIS familiarisation training or type specific training, as it was called back then. In the meantime a wild West scenario had evolved in the training business offering familiarisation training courses to the ship owners at prices down to less than 50 dollars and in some cases the training products were inferior. There were and still are now requirements for building competences on shore amongst the superintendents and project managers, who are the decision makers in relation to choosing the ECDIS model and brand and where to install it, how to train the crew and build safe procedures. It took years to build a proper understanding of ECDIS, what it is, what it offers and what it is not able to offer or do.  

Now we are facing autonomous systems, intelligent ship solutions, automatic optical target recognition systems, etc., all nice and valuable systems, if operated correctly and with the right understanding of the limitations of the systems and how to validate that they are still reliable. Because technology opens for so many different uses, it is difficult to legislate on specific end user training and familiarisation activities. However, it is not impossible to make a set of generic end user training requirements including:

·        Regulatory requirements

·        How to set up and calibrate the equipment/system if required

·        How to operate the equipment/systems safely

·        How to establish reliability of the displayed information and decisions

·        Limitations in the equipment/systems – When should a human take over

·        Fall back measures in case of system failure

·        How to maintain and repair the equipment/system if possible by the crew

And a set of generic shore staff (superintendents, project managers, technical operation officers, safety officers) training requirements including:

·        Regulatory requirements

·        Bridge layout with optimal positioning of equipment

·        How to identify the operational needs to be satisfied by the equipment/systems

·        Operational risk assessment

·        Equipment/System capabilities and limitations

·        Best practice operation and use of the equipment

·        Fall back measures in case of system failure

·        How to build sustainable, relevant and safe procedures

·        Maintenance requirements

We have the opportunity to be proactive this time and set a general set of rules, which can be used across the many different new technologies and solutions made available to the market. I know, having been in charge of a global training operation on behalf of a manufacturer of marine electronics to the merchant marine, and I have faced the challenge of not having proper guidelines and rules from the national and international maritime authorities to support proper quality training leaving end user familiarisation training to be a place for price competition and not quality competition. It benefits ship owners, crew members, superintendents, manufacturers, maritime authorties, insurance companies and not least the environment to build a common clear minimum requirement for new technology familiarisation training.