Danish shipping companies and Danish authorities have a long history of cooperating closely with African partners, especially in the maritime sector.

Building on successful partnerships between Danish shipping companies and African maritime institutions, the African Maritime Training Initiative aims to strengthen cooperation and create opportunities for talented African cadets to gain world-class training and sea experience with leading Danish shipowners.

“I am very happy to announce Danish Shipping’s new African Maritime Training Initiative. This is a joint effort, where Danish shipping companies will continue to build maritime competence, create local opportunities, and explore new partnerships to engage and train Africa’s next generation of seafarers to the benefit of us all. We aim to deepen partnerships and cooperation between Danish shipping and our African partners with this new initiative,” said Anne Windfeldt Trolle, Executive Director of Labor Market, Recruitment and Education at Danish Shipping.

The new initiative currently includes Maersk, NORDEN, Hafnia, TORM, Unifeeder, and Navigator Gas, coordinated by Danish Shipping, which aims to expand participation across its membership.

A strong foundation for this initiative has been laid through NORDEN’s engagement in West Africa, including its support for the Regional Maritime Academy in Abidjan (ARSTM) via the Orient Foundation. Since 2019, 18 students from Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon have been sponsored, with the first cadets completing their sea time in 2024 and progressing toward officer positions in the Synergy fleet. In 2025, an additional 18 cadets from Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Guinea will be sponsored, and six new cadets are expected to embark on NORDEN vessels or with Synergy technical management as trainees.

Also in West Africa, Hafnia is officially collaborating with the Regional Maritime University in Ghana, since signing an MOU in 2023. Under this partnership agreement, Hafnia has committed to recruiting a minimum of 16 cadet positions aboard its vessels annually who have graduated from RMU. To date a total of 77 cadets have gone through or are going through their cadetship with Hafnia with the objective of becoming officers within its fleet. Hafnia has taken a total of 103 seafarers across varying ranks and career trajectories (Cadets, Ratings and Officers) from Ghana and other regions – including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Nigeria, South-Africa, and Tanzania.

The initiative also follows the positive experience of the World-Class Maritime Training Programme launched by Maersk and the Kenya Ports Authority in 2025, which has already provided maritime training opportunities for Kenyan students, including 10 sea cadets, demonstrating the strong potential for collaboration between industry and local academies. As part of the initiative, six African cadets are expected to join Navigator Gas vessels in the coming year, subject to meeting entry requirements.