The Norwegian Union of Marine Engineers (NUME), one of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) affiliates, held a conference on 18-19 September 2018 in Sandefjord, Norway. A number of participants from various fields – professors from Western Norway University of Applied Science, Norwegian ship owners, Kongsberg and Mayor of the city – attended and had profound discussions about aquaculture, autonomous ships and digitalisation, in a nutshell, the future of the maritime cluster
The vice president of ITF Seafarers’ Section Autonomous Working Group (SSAWG) and the assistant director & technical manager of NUME, Odd Rune Malterud said “Sandefjord is a well-renowned maritime city in Norway. Holding such a predominant event by the NUME in the city of maritime with well-known specialists and experts is a significant achievement. This conference rendered opportunities for all major protagonists of the industry to reiterate the importance of competences, therefore, the needs for the workers’ life-long learning.”
During the conference, Mr. Malterud presented the Union’s (NUME) broad involvement in national education and training and legislation, as well as international representations as a member of the ITF delegation. As an organisation with state-of-the-art knowledge and aspiration for the better future, the NUME announced its positions for the maritime future:
- No autonomous ship in the next 20 years in international shipping
- Some remote-controlled ships in the next 20 years in national shipping in EU
- Crew on automated ships - as of now
- Education / competence requirements, in particular, expanded operational and ICT competences in pursuant to the STCW 2010
- More students with maritime competence (more entertaining and family-friendly curricula)
- More employment opportunities
- New agreements for ship-control rooms operators on shore must be developed.
At the end of the conference, there was a converged view that even if the speakers were from different parts, every sector has human element in the loop.
For the first theme ‘aquaculture’, the main focus was on the critical needs for maritime competences for now and the future. For the second theme ‘autonomous ships’, the Group executive vice president Public Affairs of Kongsberg, Even Aas, acknowledged the importance of seafarers by saying that seafarers were the hub of the maritime wheel.
Moreover, the director of Norwegian Forum for Autonomous Ships (NFAS), Ørnulf Jan Rødseth, concluded on behalf of the members of the Forum “The fully autonomous ships without humans’ involvement may be preposterous. We should make sure that humans are in charge of making decisions and supervising.”
Lastly, on ‘digitalisation’, it was recalled that since its introduction in 1970s, the industry has been dealing with it in order to enhance safety and work efficiency. The NUME construed the outcomes of this conference to be great success.
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