Human Resources "biggest challenge" for shipping

MANPOWER, training and development and all of the wider issues connected with human resources in shipping will become the biggest challenge the industry will face over the coming years, according to Admiral Peter Brady, Director General of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica and Chairman of the IMO's STW sub-committee. That is why a review of the STCW Convention was necessary, he says, to resolve inconsistencies in the previously revised Convention and to ensure it meets the new challenges facing the shipping industry today and in the years to come.

The basic principles of the STCW review are to:

• retain the structure and goals of the 1995 revision
• ensure that existing standards are not down-scaled and do not amend the articles of the Convention
• address any inconsistencies, interpretations, outdated provisions, MSC instructions, clarifications already issued and technological advances highlighted o address requirements for effective communication
• provide for flexibility in terms of compliance and for required levels of training, certification and watchkeeping arrangements, due to technological innovation in technology
• address the special character and circumstances of short sea shipping and the offshore industry; and address security-related issues.

"Following the invitation of the STW sub Committee, the Maritime Safety Committee, which is our parent body, mandated us to carry out as a high priority, a comprehensive review of the STCW Convention and the STCW Code, with a target completion date of 2008. The sub Committee was instructed by the Maritime Safety Committee to initially define the scope of review of the instruments and submit its findings/report to the Committee for its endorsement," Admiral Brady added.

"As a second step, following the Committee's endorsement, the sub committee was tasked to undertake the review in a systematic and organized manner. The list of areas in the Convention and the Code for the comprehensive review were then identified and approved by the MSC (83) which instructed us to go ahead and undertake the review in a systematic and organized manner while extending the target completion date to 2010."

He adds: "As this is the first major review since the STCW Conference in 1995, the revised Convention should meet the objectives and challenges of the industry. Taking into account that it would, in principle, enter into force at the beginning of the 2010s, it should provide global standards of training for seafarers for a considerable length of time thereafter."

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

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