Publisher’s Note
Crewless ships: boon or bane?
I
n this fast-paced world where IT has taken the reigns of everything,
do not be surprised if just within the near future, a crewless ship will
make its voyage, traversing the oceans with different sorts of freight
between continents.
True, this crewless ships will involve state-of-the-art refine-
ments where they can be operated remotely at just touches of the
fingers. While this may be a welcome move by the shipping industry
that can truly ease the stresses out of manually operating the ship, question
is, what will be the effect to the careers of seafarers—most especially Filipinos,
who are regarded as among the most competitive and skillfully proficient in
the global maritime industry?
It may not be that easy. However, if we are to reexamine what can be done to
cope up with such rapid innovations, this can call for an immediate mitigation
in terms of enhancing the abilities and know-how of our seafarers. This
is especially so among the students currently enrolled in maritime courses,
which may also mean, re-evaluating and modernizing the academic curric-
ulum of maritime institutions, giving more emphasis on IT, computerization,
and apps-based technology proficiencies.
While the task of crewless ships doing their voyages speaks well of the future,
let us also remember the reality that they also need ‘humanware’: the people
who manage, control, operate and oversee that these ships sail smoothly. And
it takes a great deal for these seafarers to enhance their capabilities with these
new technological innovations so they will not be left behind with changing
trends and prove that they can do it.
PHILIP O. ORTALEZA
Related Stories:
1.Ghost Ships IRL: How Autonomous Cargo Boats Could Disrupt The Massive Shipping
Industry – page . . . 22
2.Model Testing Commences - World’s First Autonomous Container Vessel – page . . . 28
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