The decisive role played by seafarers, but also more broadly the human factor in the shipping sector, was given particular emphasis by Karin Orsel, President of European Shipowners | ECSA, in a panel she participated in as part of Maritime Cyprus 2025.
“Without people we would be nowhere,” she characteristically stated.
Furthermore, Ms. Orsel underlined that shipping is undeniably in the era of digitalization and energy transition. One of the most important challenges of these new realities is also the way in which seafarers will be “exposed” to new developments and ultimately respond to them. “We must be very careful, so as not to ‘bombard’ seafarers with a multitude of information,” she characteristically stated.
However, beyond the issue of reskilling, she also focused particularly on the need to attract younger ages to the seafaring profession. According to Ms. Orsel, this particular occupation has shown a great shortage of human resources in recent years in Europe, as more attractive professions are continuously emerging. As a result, many are those who either change professions or choose a more attractive one from the start, resulting in the pool of prospective seafarers “emptying”. In Europe alone, there is a shortage of tens of thousands. “The solution is to visit schools and inform as many students as we can. There are some students who want to pursue a seafaring career, but they do not know the way or do not know that the possibility exists,” she concluded.
