Athens Forum: Life at Sea - Report
Tullio Biggi
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David Dearsley
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Captain Howard Snaith |
Nicos Efthimiou |
Prof. John Tzoannos |
Nigel Carden |
Captain Hiroshi Sekine |
Chris Horrocks CBE |
Doris Magsaysay Ho |
John Millican |
Audience |
Speakers |
The Forum was opened by our Chairman Tullio Biggi who welcomed the distinguished guests and speakers and shared his views on the challenges of marine recruitment and human resources issues.
Our first speaker Mr. Nicos Efthimiou, President of the Union of Greek Shipowners spoke of the quality of crew necessary to meet the high expectations of the public for our industry. He also cautioned the audience of the impact for the broader maritime industry if a geographical shift in expertise led to European countries being "denuded of maritime know-how".
The ship owners perspective continued with a presentation by Capt. Hiroshi Sekine, Managing Corporate Officer of NYK Line, explaining the strategies his company was pursuing to obtain and retain an increasingly scarce supply of officers for its ships. His presentation Crewing Challenges at NYK demonstrated the extent of investment and commitment needed to achieve that goal.
Mrs. Doris Magsaysay Ho, President & Chief Executive Officer of crewing agency Magsaysay Inc., continued the review of methods for encouraging a supply of good quality officers and ratings for international shipping from the Phillippines. Mrs Ho's presentation Global Challenges For Quality Crew In The Expanding Shipping Industry emphasised the need for a comprehensive approach that recognised the combination of education and career opportunity.
Mr. John Millican the Director of the Warsash Marine Academy in the UK focused on the educational issues to be embraced for effective crewing of merchant ships. He stressed the importance of "deep learning" through a combination of high quality teaching and thorough practice and implementation of study topics.
Capt. Howard Snaith's presentation on Tanker Officer Training Standards (TOTS) provided an example of continuing education at sea. As Marine Director of INTERTANKO and architect of this training system, Captain Snaith provided a comprehensive demonstration of the range of skills and situations in which officers have to become accomplished to maintain the professional standards expected by their employers, and the major oil companies chartering their ships.
For David Dearsley, Secretary General of the International Maritime Employers Committee, the fundamentals of good crewing are "attitude, aptitude and ability". In his presentation titled simply Manpower Issues Mr Dearsley explained the role of his organisation, IMEC, and others such as ITF and the ILO through the Maritime Labour Convention in the delivery of crew candidates who possess those three fundamental qualities.
Chris Horrocks, the Former Secretary General, International Chamber of Shipping, expertly chaired the Forum providing succinct summaries of the presentations and encouraging useful contributions to the debate from the broader audience.
John Tzoannos, Secretary General of the Greek Ministry of Mercantile Marine, kindly accepted Chris Horrocks' invitation to give an impromptu presentation of his views on this subject which provided a welcome link into an engaging open discussion among the delegates.
More that 150 principals and senior company executives attended the Forum together with other local VIPs and representatives of the Greek maritime press.
A transcription of the presentations is currently being prepared and will be provided to all those attending the Forum in a booklet form. An electronic copy will also be posted on this website.
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