SKILLSEA is a 4-year project, launched to ensure that the region’s maritime professionals possess key digital, green and soft management skills for the rapidly changing maritime labour market. The project was developed by the industry’s social partners: the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) and the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA). It is comprised of a consortium of national maritime authorities, shipping companies, shipowners’ associations, maritime trade unions and maritime education providers from 16 countries in Europe.
As we are approaching the final four months of SkillSea and the finalisation of this vast and important project for the Maritime Transport Sector is coming closer and closer, it is a perfect moment to summarise and give some input about the current status of the project and about the activities to come.
EACEA has approved an extension of the project until June 3, 2023. Perhaps the essential part of the work in the coming months is focused on the future of SkillSea. Three different deliverables are necessary to mention: deliverable 2.3, called Structural cooperation; deliverable 3.7, describes the Strategy Key Findings of our project and deliverable 5.2, the Roadmap towards a sustainable Skills Strategy.
ETF is contributing constructively and participating at the managing board to steer and monitor the work so as the project to address the principal elements and the key strategy recommendations, having a people-centred approach and facilitating the need for the development of the appropriate skills so that seafarers to feel confident and qualified to operate the new technologies. We want to prepare the seafarer of the future. Still, at the same time, it is important to ensure that the seafarer of today has access to upskilling and training so that we don’t see an exodus of qualified, skilled maritime professionals in the near future and no one to be left behind. Furthermore, the health and Safety of seafarers need to be the 1st priority, and it is critical to ensure that workers have the appropriate skills and are prepared and protected in introducing and handling new fuels and when handling new, complex, hybrid and zero-emission systems.
In the last transnational consortium meeting in November in Aalesund, Norway, there was a discussion about the main elements of the SkillSea strategy, which will be one of the project’s main deliverables. The dissemination strategy was also updated to have the most impact possible. In general, we concluded during the meeting that the research concerning current and future trends and developments in the maritime transport sector is about to be completed and that the development of educational packages is coming to an end. The activities that still need to be carried out are more and more focused on the period after the formal end of the project. Amongst others, this involves the work on the cooperation between European Maritime Education and Training Institutes (METs), the guide on business-education partnerships, the development of a Strategic multi-stakeholder Alliance in Maritime Transport (which previously was called the SkillSea Knowledge Hub), including an action plan and the SkillSea strategy report.
A transnational consortium meeting is scheduled on April 3 and 4 in Rijeka, Croatia, which will be the last one.
The date for the final conference is set on May 31 in Brussels. The meeting will be prepared between STC, ECSA and ETF. All affiliates are invited to save that date—more detailed information to follow.
You can visit the Skill Sea website and learn more and be informed about all the current finalised and publicly available deliverables.
VIDEOS EXPLAINING WHAT SKILL SEA IS ABOUT:
The SkillSea project delivered two videos and one animation, both for dissemination purposes. We invite everyone who wants to explain what SkillSea is about to share and use the videos and animation: