World Maritime Day: What You Think

From around the world, and across the industry, we asked what you think about World Maritime Day:

Rear Admiral Paul Thomas, U.S. Coast Guard Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy

“As are the world’s oceans, the maritime industry is a global entity that interconnects trade - it is the life blood of nations’ economies. World Maritime Day provides a welcomed opportunity to reflect on the significant contributions made by the international shipping community and its professional mariners, who sail ships and transport the world’s life-essential cargos.”

Jim Watson, President and COO ABS Americas

“World Maritime Day is an opportunity to reflect on the many contributions the maritime industry has made to society. Long before planes, e-mail, cell phones and other modern technology, our world was connected by ships and built on the hard work of the men and women of our industry. Today is not only a day to be proud of our heritage but a day to look ahead with excitement to what lies beyond the horizon.”

Denise Krepp, U.S. ship recycling advocate

“World Maritime Day celebrates the life cycle of the maritime industry - from ship building to ship recycling. In the United States, new ships are built with the steel from those that came before them. This legacy strengthens our military and ensures that future generations sail aboard the most powerful ships in the world.”

David Hammond, CEO and Founder of Human Rights at Sea

“It is a day to refocus interest and attention on the maritime environment and particularly the people who make the related industries tick. The human element is fundamental to this, as are the rights and responsibilities which go with it.”

Jean Gowin, Managing Director of Jeanius Consulting

“For me, World Maritime Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the amazing and diverse industry in which I’m lucky enough to work. As well as working with companies all over the world, I’m a big champion of raising the maritime sector’s profile, so any opportunity to reach out and engage with a wider audience is always welcome. The theme for 2015, “Maritime education and training,” is a well-chosen and topical one, as we need to ensure that maritime, both at sea and ashore, is a career choice for future generations. The future of shipping lies with young people, and it’s crucial to enable them to understand the wide ranging opportunities in the industry and the importance of the role it plays in the global economy.”   

David Kelly, Director of Asia PAC - Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST)

“World Maritime Day is a great opportunity for the sector and wider world to see the amazing efforts of the maritime industry and the work the IMO does. With a focus on training this year, the IMarEST has been working with a number of organizations to support the professional development of those at sea, and accrediting career routes to provide access to professional qualifications such as Chartered Marine Engineer for engineers and Chartered Marine Technologist for the deck side. The institute is also working with universities, colleges and cadet training organizations to support the Initial Professional Development of their students, putting them on a professional development path for the start of their careers.”

Dean Summers, ITF Australia coordinator

“WMD for me is a time where the lot of seafarers should be considered if only for a day. It’s a day when governments and industry should take time to promote the value of the world’s 1.3 million workers on whom all economies rely. The biggest threat to seafarers today comes from a society oblivious of how everything we buy, consume and trade is transported by workers and almost always maritime workers. At a time when going to sea is more demanding than ever, mariners at least deserve acknowledgement of their contribution to world trade. World Maritime Day will pass almost unnoticed by politicians, communities and employers but if we can use this opportunity to remind ourselves and others that this unique industry is still central to our lives then it will have been well worth any effort. I encourage all sides of the shipping community to work hard to make this day a success and to remember the hard working men and women who go to the sea in ships.”

Alex van Zuijlen, Marketing Director Sinwa Ltd

“We think that World Maritime Day, and in particular the focus on education and training, is a great initiative by the IMO. Historically, the maritime industry has been the backbone of economic growth for developing nations, revolutionizing institutions like education, democracy, human rights and public liberties. We do recognize that today’s maritime industry heavily relies on human resources coming from yet to be developed economies, and we applaud IMO for taking on the social responsibility of creating personal growth opportunities for those who are willing to be away from families for a long time, doing an exciting yet demanding job at sea.”

Paolo Moretti, General Manager, Marine, RINA Services

“It’s great that IMO is focusing on education and training for this year’s World Maritime Day. It is something we have identified as fundamental, and we are doing all we can to share expertise and raise standards of seafarers.”

Sergey Popravko, Managing Director of Unicom Management Services

“For us at Unicom, it is Maritime Day every day – we are passionate about every aspect of shipping. Looking at a great ship photo makes our hearts beat faster! We very much appreciate the good work of IMO and, especially, their great initiative in creating the ongoing WMD and giving it a specific theme each year. This year’s theme, “Maritime Education and Training,” is at the core of our activity, and we constantly review, develop and investigate the training and development needs of our sea and shore personnel. Moreover, we have strong ties with marine academies, as well training our future crew for 2-3 years before they join our ships. But even more importantly, this initiative creates more awareness with the general public about shipping and all the related maritime sectors, especially the career opportunities the industry has to offer young people. Unicom is proud to be a part of such a large multi-faceted sector, which includes shipbuilding, classification, registry, ship management and education and training, as well as many more – all having a part in defining the maritime transport system.”

Bjarne Rasmussen, ice navigator

“I am very big fan of education and training of the entire crew of a ship; but it is as if that shipping today focuses more on theoretical skills learned in a school ashore - rather than focusing on the individual sailor’s personal skills and social skills on board. There was a time at sea where the balanced combination of knowledge and skills were called for good seamanship; I do hope that the World Maritime Day 2016 also focuses on this topic.”

Peter Hult, President of Vikand

“World Maritime Day allows us to remember and focus on the safety, health and wellness of the many seafarers globally who are making international trade possible. Without these many hard working men and women, that world trade would come to a standstill. It is important that we continue to focus on safety, health and continued education for our seafarers in order to make this an attractive trade for people who are considering seafaring as a profession. Having been a seafarer myself, I value the hard work that is going in to being a mariner.”

Mark Cameron, COO of Ardmore Shipping

“It is great to see education and training placed at the heart of this year’s World Maritime Day. At Ardmore Shipping, we passionately believe that seafaring is much more than a 9-5 job. It is a profession and a way of life. We want our seafarers to regard themselves as the highly skilled professionals that they are and to take tremendous pride in their work.  Seafarers are the backbone of global shipping and World Maritime Day is an excellent opportunity to remind everyone of their immense contribution, which often goes unseen. We owe it to them to invest in their training and education, to empower them to use their skills when serving at sea and to encourage young people looking for a successful and fulfilling career to consider the maritime industry. World Maritime Day is also about expressing our gratitude and respect for the families of our seafarers. In many ways, they are the unsung heroes of our industry and we mustn’t lose sight of the burden of having a family member away from home for such long periods of time. They are an important part of the maritime community and they deserve our recognition and our support.”

Philippe Donche-Gay, Executive Vice President and head of the Marine & Offshore Division, Bureau Veritas

“World Maritime Day reminds us to be proud of the great global industry we work in. Shipping doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves for the way it makes the world economy work. We should shout more about the benefits shipping delivers to everyone in the world.”

P. Jaime Tetrault, Director, Marine Asset Intelligence & Product Support, Caterpillar Marine

“The theme for World Maritime Day 2015 is “maritime education and training.” This theme is very appropriate as we consider the challenges facing the maritime industry with ever growing complexities of modern day vessels and increased focus on technology to support productivity and reliability. However, as ships become more complex, global crew capabilities are not necessarily improving at the same rate. At Caterpillar Marine, we recognize this industry shift, and as a result have begun to explore different means to help crews manage this challenge. The most aligned technology to the theme for this year’s World Maritime Day is Caterpillar’s newly introduced Marine Asset Intelligence platform. This analytics enabled software solution is able to identify issues and predict failures well before they actually occur on most onboard marine assets. From a crewing perspective, having information about future failure risks and knowledge well in advance of the potential failure mode not only allows the crews confidence in the safety of the vessel, but it also allows for the construction and operation of more complex ships without the need for significant additional education and training. Technology is one of the best solutions to address gaps in education and training, and Caterpillar Marine is pleased to be leading in this effort on a global basis. As the United Nations states in their sponsorship of World Maritime Day, “we need to recall the often unheralded, but always vital, contributions by international shipping to peoples and communities all over the world.” These contributions must come in a safe and sustainable manner, with technology and maritime education at the foundation of this achievement.”

Erik Kravets, Founding Partner of Kravets & Kravets

“The focus of this year’s WMD is education. In our teaching we have gotten to know a lot of future officers and captains. The human component is so essential to shipping and it’s important to remember that when it comes to making money from shipping, it’s the crew and officers who are risking their lives day in and day out, whether it be in brutal weather or against pirates or any of the other innumerable difficulties out on the ocean. § 499 German Commercial Code lists nine liability exclusions, including war, ocean hazards, hazardous cargo, court seizures, etc. If you want to make an easy living it is possible without much effort to think of more comfortable and pleasant jobs. But as I like to say to each class at the beginning of a new semester, without shipping, half of the world would freeze and the other half would starve - and so we should use World Maritime Day to remind us to be grateful to seafarers, and the focus on education should remind us to ensure that these young men and women go board their ships with the best training and knowledge possible.”

Sten Wärnfeldt, Project Manager at Radar Technology

“World Maritime Day is a remembrance day for all at sea. Remembering how critical situations were resolved on board, remembering how good long experience contributed to safety, remembering new procedures and techniques making the day to day life on board better, remembering how the improved co-operation on board made the life on board even safer.”

Nigel Cleave CEO of Videotel

“World Maritime Day is extremely important for Videotel, especially as the theme for 2015 is “maritime education and training.” Videotel has a long association with the IMO and has produced training courses for the maritime industry since 1973 when the forerunner to the IMO wanted to improve the quality of training materials available to seafarers and called on the company’s services. Since that time, Videotel has been at the forefront of developing world-class training material to help ship owners and ship managers comply with the STCW Convention, operational practices, and pertinent health and safety regulations.”

Niclas Karlsson, Owner at Clean Ship Scandinavia

“I think WMD is a good initiative from IMO for the industry. It highlights important questions and hopefully it will give some time for reflections. I like that the focus this year is on education and training! One reflection from my side is the fact that owners, designers and yards have different objectives, and I see this on a more or less daily basis, especially when I’m having workshops with my clients. I work close with the crew on board and there is sometimes a missing link between the office/HQ and the crew – advanced equipment and systems are being installed on board and sometimes the crew do not know why (Read: "Another clever idea from the office…”). The key to success is training, education and understanding – not only the equipment!”