The Maritime Education and Training (MET) instructors play an important role in maritime safety. They educate, train and prepare new and existing seafarers for efficient and safe job performance and ...ultimately shape the safety and sustainability of shipping operations. To assist instructors in performing their tasks appropriately, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has developed various IMO model courses. The paper addresses the factors that bear upon the effectiveness of instructors at MET institutions. The authors developed a questionnaire with the aim of identifying the most significant factors from the instructors’ perspective and investigating whether there were correlations between factors and if they affected each other. The survey included 113 participants from 26 countries. In addition to descriptive statistics, Fisher’s exact test and chi-square test were used to analyse the obtained data and investigate the possible correlation between instructors’ competencies and perceptions of the factors affecting the teaching effectiveness. Finally, the research findings and the main conclusions and recommendations that emerge from these findings are presented.
Technological development on board ships creates new challenges for the crew. Developing trends on board ships (e.g. extending decision-making capabilities in various control units, increased number ...of different measuring sensors, extensive redundancy of critical systems on board) change the way processes on them are carried out. Consequently, the crew has to master new competences or upgrade the already existing ones. Therefore, some competences will probably become obsolete. In this paper, the authors draw attention to MET of deck officers. The main goal of the research that lasted for 2 years was to determine the presence of different types of competences in MET of deck officers. The process of gaining competences prescribed by IMO Model Courses 7.01 and 7.03, study programmes of Croatian higher MET institutions, non-formal education programmes, i.e. short courses on board LNG carriers and cruise ships were analysed in the paper. Research methods used in the paper were interview, questionnaire and document analysis. Interview and questionnaire were used for gathering data on short courses for LNG carriers and cruise ships. Document analysis was used when classifying competences gained through MET programmes based on only IMO Model Courses and the programmes that go beyond IMO Model Courses, i.e. short courses on board LNG carriers and cruise ships. Taking into consideration the results of the research, the authors have suggested the so-called process approach to interrelate the processes on board ships with required competences.
The tasks of an officer of the watch (OOW) on complex ships during navigation in coastal areas may be very challenging. Almost all the tasks require substantial information processing and timely ...decision making. Every distracting element should be avoided during navigation. Every call, made through any communication system, activates a new process that the OOW needs to conduct. The new process may interrupt a previously started task. In case of too many incoming calls, the workload of the OOW may increase significantly, thus, their situational awareness may be compromised and the risk of errors may increase. The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of incoming voice calls on the OOW. The research methods used include a questionnaire survey and a series of interviews with experienced officers. The main outcomes refer to the average frequency of incoming calls, duration of conversations and subjective assessment of their influence. The results indicate that, during one watch, an officer needs to answer 14 calls that last 16.19 min altogether. However, the officers consider 45% of calls made during watch keeping as distracting. A possible call management system with the aim to reduce distractions made by low priority calls is proposed in this paper.
STCW Convention has defined competences needed for jobs onboard, methods for demonstrating competences and criteria for their evaluation. Every MET institution has to include minimal standards, ...prescribed by STCW Convention, in programmes for seafarers they have been carrying out. Apart from the obligatory STCW regulations, every institution carrying out STCW Convention based programme can include IMO Model Courses in the programme as well. In STCW Convention, competences and methods for their demonstration as well as criteria for their evaluation have been divided on the basis of ship’s departments. The paper is about standards that refer to deck department. Methods for demonstrating competences and criteria for their evaluation defined by STCW Convention, and the ones defined by IMO Model Courses were compared. They depend on well-defined learning outcomes. In order to determine whether learning outcomes, defined by both, STCW Convention and IMO Model Courses, are in accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy, a lexical analysis for STCW A-II/1, column 2, A-II/2, column 2, Model Course 7.01 – Part C and Model Course 7.03 – Part C was done. Software Wordsmith 7.0, produced and delivered by Lexical Analysis Software and Oxford University press, was used in the research. The results of the research show that methods for demonstrating competences and criteria for their evaluation have not been written clearly enough. It was found out that methods for demonstrating competences and criteria for their evaluation defined by STCW Convention are not in accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy and commonly used methods and criteria. On the other hand, they are defined precisely in IMO Model Courses. Furthermore, there still exists a problem of IMO Model Courses being non-mandatory.
During the last five years, maritime education in Croatia underwent changes in programmes, possible educational paths and students' structure. This paper analyses the recent trends in maritime ...education in Croatia with particular references to enrolment and graduation processes at higher Maritime Education and Training (MET) institutions. The aim was to examine the students' structure developments and the correlation between recent economical fluctuations in Croatia and attractiveness of seafaring among young people. The authors have examined data gathered from two higher MET institutions in Zadar and Rijeka from 2010 to 2014. The results of the research have shown that GDP fluctuations i.e. the economic situation in the state has an influence on the enrolment at higher MET institutions. Furthermore, the results have shown that grammar school graduates and those from other four-year vocational schools are starting to choose seafaring as their profession increasingly. Today, in both cities, traditionally oriented to seafaring, students enrolled at higher MET institutions who graduated from maritime schools are significantly in the minority.
This paper analyse the participation - based model on board the ship as possibly optimal leadership model existing in the shipping industry with accent on decision - making process. In the paper ...authors have tried to define master’s behaviour model and management style identifying drawbacks and disadvantages of vertical, pyramidal organization with master on the top. Paper describes efficiency of decision making within team organization and optimization of a ship’s organisation by introducing teamwork on board the ship. Three examples of the ship’s accidents are studied and evaluated through “Leader - participation” model. The model of participation based management as a model of the teamwork has been applied in studying the cause - and - effect of accidents with the critical review of the communication and managing the human resources on a ship. The results have showed that the cause of all three accidents is the autocratic behaviour of the leaders and lack of communication within teams.
The concept of "Motorways of the Sea" represents a part of the door-to-door logistic chain in which the maritime segment of the journey is organized according to the principle of short sea shipping. ...The main principle of the concept is to encourage the use of the environmental friendly mode of transport such as the sea transport aimed at providing positive effect on the reduction of air pollutant emissions and enhancing connections within the EU member states. In this matter, maritime traffic is increasing in particular sea areas with the possibility of potential emergence and appearance of maritime accidents on board ships engaged in the "Motorways of the Sea" service. Generally, the "Motorways of the Sea" service uses RO-RO and RO-RO passenger ships, which have a design different from other types of ships, as well as some special features in terms of safety. This paper has analysed the particular safety features of RO-RO and RO-RO passenger ships, the maritime accidents involving these ships and the measures to increase safety of ships arising from maritime accidents.
The paper analyses the impact of COVID-19 on signing-on seafarers in national navigation in the Republic of Croatia. Relevant law provisions and regulations referring to this topic were analysed as ...well as the number of seafarers signed-on in the period from 2018 to 2022. Statistical data on the number of signed-on seafarers were gathered from CIMIS system. Data analysis revealed that the pandemic had a significant impact on the number of signed-on seafarers with a continuous decrease in numbers from 2020 to 2022. By comparing the number of seafarers signed-on in 2018 and in 2022, it was found out that there were 867 less seafarers signed-on in national navigation in 2022, which indicates the negative impact of the pandemic on small shipowners. The greatest number of signed-on seafarers was at the nautical department followed by the engine department, whereas the other departments had fewer numbers of the signed-on seafarers. It was concluded that the number of seafarers signed-on the position of the master was decreasing continuously, whereas the number of seafarers signed-on position of master/chief engineer of a Croatian ship was increasing. Therefore, it can be concluded that the structure of signed-on seafarers changed during the pandemic.
The objective of this research is to analyse smart technologies implemented in Croatian marinas and their impact upon the safety and service quality improvement, sustainability, and environmental ...protection, as well as energy consumption and operations optimisation. Key performance indicators and a definition of smart marina concept have been derived based on the smart port concept. The analysis has been conducted on a sample of 78 marinas in six different counties along the Croatian coast. Ultimately, the SWOT analysis has been performed in order to determine the advantages and disadvantages of introducing smart technologies in marina management. The results indicate that the Croatian marinas are undergoing a revolution in terms of facilitating booking management process and achieving greater safety and service quality, but still need to improve in the field of monitoring and controlling nautical tourism impact upon the environment.
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