marinEd GmbH releases the free ‘Ship-to-Shore Transition Course’ for seafarers who are planning to continue their maritime careers ashore.

Additional qualifications are necessary when making the transition from ship to shore
A number of research papers reveal that 90% of all officers will at some point in their career look for work ashore. A study by the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) and European Community Shipowners’ associations (ECSA) states that most seafarers will serve at sea for 10-15 years, before leaving to work ashore. A job in a maritime cluster is where most seafarers wish to end up and employers in the maritime clusters want to and, in many cases, need to employ ex-seafarers.

In reality, seafarers’ qualifications and experience are not sufficiently valued. Due to the special nature of working and living at sea, their transition from ship to shore is hindered with problems related to office hierarchy, lack of office skills and shoreside knowledge, lack of commercial knowledge of the maritime industry and their leadership and management styles are different to the ones required in an office environment.

It is accepted among seafarers and employers that additional qualifications are necessary when making the transition from ship to shore.

In fact, the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006 seeks to address the problems faced by seafarers when coming ashore through guideline B2.8.1 – Measures to promote career and skill development and employment opportunities for seafarers, which calls for the ‘promotion of opportunities, both on board and ashore, for further training and education of seafarers to provide for skill development and portable competencies in order to secure and retain decent work, to improve individual employment prospects and to meet the changing technology and labour market conditions of the maritime industry’.

Continuous Professional Development for Ship-to-Shore Transition

marinEd’s ‘Ship-to-Shore Transition Course’ is designed as a relevant bridging course to enhance seafarers’ shoreside awareness, commercial knowledge and skills for the maritime office. The content is written by academics from reputable universities, mainly in the United Kingdom. Enrolled students have access to the course and its resources free of charge with the option to upgrade to a paid certificate. The course is completely online and self-paced and covers the business of shipping, voyage charterparties, time charterparties, collisions liabilities, general average, protection and indemnity (P&I) and marine insurance policies.