Developing and Implementing a Skills and Competency Framework for MASS Operators: Opportunities and Challenges

7 pages•Published: January 5, 2024

Abstract

Growth in diversity of innovation in the maritime and shipping industry, and the emergence of autonomous ship technologies is attracting discussion on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) operations in the academia, industry, and regulatory bodies. With predictions of both seafarers and non-seafarers to be involved in the critical operations of autonomous vessels, researchers are actively investigating the new skills and competencies that may be required by future MASS operators. Recent research conducted by the authors of this paper involved a qualitative study comprising in-depth interviews of stakeholders including seafarers, maritime regulators, maritime education and training providers, and other maritime experts. The research identified key technical and non-technical skills, and the need to include the identified skills and competencies in a framework. In this paper, the authors build on their past and present research and the first step towards building and implementing the framework by identifying the challenges of doing so in the context of maritime education and training. The challenges are drawn from a review of literature and a study of available skills and competency frameworks built for other industries’ workforces. The challenges identified, if addressed, will be useful in building a regulated and regimented structure for the training of MASS operators and meet the expectations of the maritime stakeholders.

Keyphrases: Autonomous Shipping, competency framework, Future Ready, maritime education, mass

In: G. Reza Emad and Aditi Kataria (editors). Proceedings of the International Conference on Maritime Autonomy and Remote Navigation 2023, vol 2, pages 1--7

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/B2Pw
	https://doi.org/10.29007/z3mc