Page 6 - 2022 - Q4 - Minerva in Focus

NEWS

News

Hour

Shipping decarbonization

action plan launched
to upskill the global

seafaring workforce

#training

A new Action Plan, launched at COP 27 by UN
organizations, shipowners, and unions, sets
out recommendations to upskill seafarers to
meet shipping’s decarbonization goals. The
plan is in response to findings from new re-
search, the modeling of which cautions that
as many as 800,000 seafarers will require
additional training by the mid-2030s.
The three emission reduction scenarios
assessed in the research highlight an im- Piracy: No room for which have emerged as the world’s biggest
infrastructure in place to ensure hundreds complacency piracy hotspot in recent years.
mediate need to start putting the training
IMB Director Michael Howlett said: “We com-
of thousands of the world’s nearly two mil- mend the efforts of the coastal authorities
lion seafarers are upskilled and empowered of the Gulf of Guinea. While the decline is
through the transition. #security welcome, sustained and continued efforts of
Findings also suggest that a lack of certainty the coastal authorities and the presence of
on alternative fuel options is having knock- ICC IMB’s latest global quarterly piracy the international navies remain essential to
on effects on seafarer training as the global report details 90 incidents of piracy and safeguard seafarers and long-term regional
maritime community works towards a clear- armed robbery against ships in the first nine and international shipping and trade. There
er decarbonization pathway in a post-fossil months of 2022, the lowest recorded figure is no room for complacency.”
fuel era. in three decades.
The research was conducted by DNV and Perpetrators successfully gained access to Source: ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB)
commissioned by the Maritime Just Tran- the vessels in 95% of the reported incidents,
broken down as 85 vessels boarded, four
sition Task Force Secretariat. The Maritime attempted attacks, and one vessel hijacked. InterManager welcomes
Just Transition Task Force was formed to en-
In many of these cases, vessels were either
sure that shipping’s response to the climate at anchor or steaming when boarded, with IMO’s commitment to
emergency puts seafarers and communities
at the heart of the solution. nearly all the incidents occurring during the addressing enclosed
In response to the training challenge that hours of darkness.
Though these are amongst the lowest
the modeling lays bare, the Action Plan reports in decades, violence to crew contin- space risks
makes recommendations for industry, gov-
ernments, seafarer unions, and academia ues, with 27 crewmembers taken hostage, six
(including training providers). These recom- assaulted, and five threatened. The risk to #safety
mendations include: crews remains real, however petty or oppor-
tunistic the incident. InterManager has welcomed a commitment by
• Strengthening global training standards Of the 90 global piracy and armed robbery the International Maritime Organization (IMO)
• Ensuring a health-and-safety-first approach incidents, 13 have been reported in the Gulf to review guidance governing safe working in
• Establishing advisory national maritime of Guinea region – compared to 27 over the enclosed spaces onboard ships.
skills councils same period in 2021 – signaling a positive Heralding the move as a significant step for-
and significant decline in the number of re- ward in crew safety, the association says it will
Source: International Chamber of Shipping ported incidents in the seas off west Africa, work with the IMO, Flag States, and other mar-

6 MINERVA IN FOCUS – ISSUE 22 / Q4 2022