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Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
ScienceDirect
Procedia Computer Science 158 (2019) 270–274

3rd World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WOCTINE)

3rd World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WOCTINE)
Future Skills Requirements Analysis in Maritime Industry
Future Skills Requirements Analysis in Maritime Industry
Kadir Cicek 1, Emre Akyuz 2,, Metin Celik1
Kadir Cicek , Emre Akyuz , Metin Celik
1 Istanbul Technical University,
2, 1
1
Department of Marine Engineering, Tuzla 34940, Istanbul, Turkey
2
Department of Maritime Transportation and Management Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Tuzla 34940, Istanbul, Turkey
1
Department of Marine Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Tuzla 34940, Istanbul, Turkey
2
Department of Maritime Transportation and Management Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Tuzla 34940, Istanbul, Turkey
Abstract
The latest technological developments in maritime industry with the effects of fourth industrial revolution, industry 4.0, will require
Abstract
a change in the skill needs of the workforce from on-board operational based skills. It turns into an essential issue to identify the
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the paper will present significant outcomes for the stakeholders of maritime industry in order to take relevant actions respect to the
effects of industry 4.0.
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd World Conference on Technology, Innovation and
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd World Conference on Technology, Innovation and
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd World Conference on Technology, Innovation and
Entrepreneurship
Keywords: Skill Requirement, Maritime Human Resources, Industry 4.0

Keywords: Skill Requirement, Maritime Human Resources, Industry 4.0

1. Introduction

1. Introduction
The importance of maritime transportation, as an indispensable instrument of global trade through connecting
producers, manufacturers and consumers in global manner, will continue to grow. Besides, the technological
The importance
developments, of maritime
particularly transportation,
with the rise of new as an indispensable
digital instrumentknown
industrial technologies of global trade through
as Industry 4.0, areconnecting
starting to
producers,
reshape the manufacturers andindustry
future of maritime consumersfasterinthan
global
ever.manner, will continue
The envisioned to grow.
growth and Besides, the developments
rapid technological technological
developments, particularlywill
in maritime transportation withcreate
the rise
needof for
new digitalskilled,
a newly industrial technologies
competent known asworkforce.
and motivated Industry 4.0, are startingthe
Additionally, to
reshape thedigitalization
increasing future of maritime industry faster
and automation of thethan ever. The
shipping envisioned
industry growth
will require and rapid
different andtechnological developments
more technically advanced
in maritimeand
knowledge transportation willtoday’s
expertise than create need for a[1].
shipping newly skilled, competent and motivated workforce. Additionally, the
increasing digitalization and automation of the shipping industry will require different and more technically advanced
knowledge and expertise than today’s shipping [1].
* Corresponding author. Emre Akyüz
E-mail address: emreakyuz82@gmail.com
* Corresponding author. Emre Akyüz
E-mail address:
1877-0509 emreakyuz82@gmail.com
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
1877-0509 © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

1877-0509 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
10.1016/j.procs.2019.09.051
2 Emre Akyüz et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000
Kadir Cicek et al. / Procedia Computer Science 158 (2019) 270–274 271

It is obviously seen that; technological developments will radically change the employment patterns in maritime
industry in forthcoming years and similarly, skillsets and training needs required both in the immediate, medium term
and long term future of the shipping industry will be different than today [1].
The potential change in the work and the employment patterns will produce two big challenges in maritime
industry. The first one will be a shortage in the supply of skilled seafarers worldwide and the second one will be the
prediction of the future skills needs respect to technological developments [1]. These challenges pull policy makers
into a harsh race to spend continued efforts to invest in the skills required for the changing needs of the ships in the
future and to build workforce with futureproof skills. At this point, from the perspective of Maritime Education and
Training Institutes, it turns into a crucial issue to spend special efforts to respond new and changing training needs
and to educate graduates with appropriate and needed skills fully conforms with the future skills needs.
In this paper, we deal with the analysis of the future skills for maritime industry via review of researches and
studies on this issue. At this insight, the organizational structure of the paper is organized as follows; the studies on
skills for the future are reviewed in section 2. The competencies need to be considered in maritime industry explained
in section 3. The paper is concluded with section 4.

2. Studies on skills for the future

The concept of Industry 4.0 is described as “an increasing digitization of the entire value chain and interconnection
of people, objects and systems through real time data exchange” in the study of [2]. The accelerating pace of
demographic and socio-economic and technological disruptions, which are caused by Fourth Industrial Revolution,
and the interactions between them will generate new categories of jobs and occupations [3]. With the effects of these
challenges/disruptions, a necessity for new skill sets will arise in both old and new occupations in most industries.
As a response, in the last years, significant research efforts have been undertaken to identify the future proof skill
sets. For instance, in the report on “Employment, Skills and Workforce strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution”
published by World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2016, 35 work relevant skills and abilities that are widely used across
all industry sectors and job families are defined. Additionally, in 2016, Hecklau et al. [1] proposed a holistic approach
for human resource management in Industry 4.0. In the study, the authors defined 28 skills under 4 categories. Also,
Grzybowska and Łupicka [4] proposed a study in which comprehensive literature review was conducted to determine
the key competencies for Industry 4.0. Furthermore, Prifti et al. proposed a study on the analysis of employee
competencies for employees with higher education in Industry 4.0 [5]. In the study, a comprehensive literature review
was conducted and 27 articles including research and practitioners’ publications were determined and analyzed. Based
on the literature review, a total of 64 competencies were determined in the study. Additionally, Prifti proposed a
doctoral dissertation on a professional qualification in Industry 4.0 [5].
From the perspective of maritime industry, as a one of the most important research, International Association of
Maritime Universities (IAMU) were conducted a survey in March 2018 to figure necessary seafarer skills under for
Industry 4.0. The survey has 214 respondents from all regions of the world and diverse work areas of the maritime
industry. According to the result of IAMU survey, the competencies presented in in Table x deemed to be of the most
important competencies in short, medium of 5-10 years and long term of 20 years.
It is obviously seen from the Table 1, technical competencies regulated in STCW still play significant role in
maritime industry in short, medium and long terms. On the other hand, technological awareness, computing and
informatics skills, and environmental/sustainability awareness/concern will be essential competencies for the future
seafarer with the effects of emerging challenges in Industry 4.0.

3. Skills for the future of the maritime

Studies and researches on competencies have mainly concentrates on three dominant competency approaches
which are behavioral approach, functional approach and holistic-multi dimensional approach [5-6]. The behavioral
approach focuses on attributes related with cognitive ability [7]. The functional approach focuses on task based
competencies [8-9].
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Emre Akyüz et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 3

Table 1: Top 15 competencies of a future seafarer for different time periods (IAMU, 2018).

Competency Short Medium Long

Technical competencies 1 2 2
Technological awareness 3 1 1
Adaptability and flexibility 7 4 4
Computing and informatics skills 9 3 3
Teamwork 2 7 8
Communication skills 4 6 8
Leadership 6 5 7
Discipline 3 9 10
Environmental/Sustainability awareness/concern 12 5 5
Learning and self-development skills 9 9 6
Complexity and critical thinking 8 7 11
Language ability 5 8 14
Professionalism and ethical behavior 9 9 9
Responsibility 5 11 13
Inter-personal and social skills 14 9 10

The holistic/multi-dimensional approach describes competencies as a collection of individual and organizational

competencies to reach the desired results [10]. In maritime industry, employment of highly qualified human
resources/seafarers plays a crucial role to ensure and to enhance the safety on board ship. At that point, functional
competencies are highly important to manage the critical operations on board ship in safe manner. Additionally,
behavioural competencies like communication skills, teamwork skill, leadership and language ability are other
important competencies which contributes the safety concern on board ship. Also, future seafarers are expected to be
professional with ethical behaviour, discipline and responsibility. At this insight, we focus on both functional and
behavioural competencies for future skills of a seafarer.

In the categorization of competencies, we use the categories proposed by Hecklau et al. [2]. In the study, authors
clustered the competencies under 4 categories which are technical, social, methodological and personal. In the
determination of the competencies, the competencies defined in the studies of Bartman [11]., Hecklau et al. [2], Prifti
et al[5], IAMU [12], WEF [3], Grzybowska and Łupicka [4], Kusmin and Normak [13] and Prifti [5] are
comprehensively analysed. As a result, under 4 categories, 33 competencies are determined for future skills of a
seafarer. The determined competencies by their categories are presented in Table 2. In the category of technical
competencies, information and data processing and programming competencies will turn into essential competencies
with the increased digitalization of maritime industry.

In the social competencies category, emotional intelligence, negotiation, adapting to cultural differences and
ability to transfer knowledge will improve the capabilities of seafarers’ respect to the social challenges of Industry
4.0. IT and technology affinity, cognitive ability and learning and researching competencies can be described as
important methodological competencies for the professionalization of seafarers for Industry 4.0. Sustainable mindset,
flexibility and motivation competencies to learn will enhance the adoption of seafarers to the latest technological
developments in Industry 4.0.
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4 Emre Akyüz et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

Table 2: Competencies by their categories.

Category Competency
Operations Monitoring and Analyzing
Equipment Operation and Control
Equipment Maintenance and Repair
Technical
Troubleshooting
Information and Data Processing
Programming
Emotional intelligence
Negotiation
Language ability
Communication with people
Teamwork
Social
Collaborating with others
Adapting to cultural differences
Ability to be compromising and cooperative
Ability to transfer knowledge
Leading and supervising
Creating and Innovating
Cognitive ability
Problem solving
Conflict solving
Methodological Reasoning and Decision making
Learning and Researching
Managing complexity
Efficiency orientation
IT and Technology Affinity
Environmental awareness
Safety awareness
Legislation awareness
Flexibility
Personal
Ambiguity tolerance
Motivation to learn
Ability to work under pressure
Sustainable mind-set

4. Conclusion

The technological developments will radically change the employment pattern in maritime industry and also trigger
the necessities of highly qualified human resources. For this reason, to figure out future skill sets of human resources
in maritime industry provides a new perspective specially for maritime education and training institutes to reform their
training and education activities to educate highly qualified seafarers. At this insight, this study focuses on
274 Kadir Cicek et al. / Procedia Computer Science 158 (2019) 270–274
Emre Akyüz et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 5

identification of futureproof skill sets in maritime industry. In the study 33 competencies under 4 categories are
defined. The defined competencies provide a new insight for the maritime education and training institutes for
reforming their education and training activities. Additionally, the defined competencies present the potential
improvement points for their professional developments. As a conclusion, although our analysis was mainly based on
literature review, this study can serve as a foundation for further research and studies on the analysis of futureproof
skill sets in maritime industry.

References

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