This report… asks, how can digital transformation and the human element develop harmoniously, supporting crew health and welfare, career opportunities, training, and development, and improve human performance while keeping the needs of the human front and centre as an integral part of a complex socio-technical system?
What value should the maritime sector place on the human element when considering the digital transformation of the shipping industry? What role does human performance play in building a lean, competitive, digitalised, and profitable merchant shipping operation? And how do human factors interrelate with digital processes, procedures, and technologies to create a ship that delivers the right outcomes for its owners and a safe and stimulating environment for its crew?
Today’s maritime sector makes considerable and often misunderstood demands on seafarers. While investment in better regulations and new technologies have revolutionised living conditions for many over the last century, the complexity of shipping has increased exponentially, placing greater demands on seafarer competence and raising the expectations
of ship owners to new heights.
Since humankind first put to sea thousands of years ago, seafaring and the maritime sector has offered people the opportunity of a unique, challenging, and rewarding career. Shipping today is motivated by the same central purpose that drew our ancient ancestors offshore – the desire to trade with foreign lands and perhaps to find adventure along the way. While it
is true that the drivers for sending ships to sea remain largely unchanged, the complexity of ships and the demands they place on their crew are worlds apart.
