In an interview with Maritime Fairtrade, Jakob Larsen, head of maritime safety and security, Baltic and International Maritime Council’s (BIMCO), said amid maritime threats, companies are also navigating digitalization and green transition to optimize operational needs.

How perilous is safety at sea presently?

Seafaring is a profession where safety hazards and security threats are omnipresent. This is nothing new. From a historical perspective, shipping has made substantial safety improvements over the past 100 years. 

The formation of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the development of technical improvements have been instrumental. Furthermore, better management of the shipping operation, for example with the introduction of the International Safety Management Code (ISM Code), and more focus on the human element, has also led to improvements. 

That said, safety and security issues evolve over time in step with the overall trends affecting the maritime industry, some of which are described below.

What pressing security and safety issues need to be addressed?

One trend affecting the situation in maritime is the green transition. The green transition is leading to the introduction of alternative fuels such as ammonia and methanol – fuels which have very different attributes compared to traditional marine fuels. The different set of safety hazards which accompany alternative fuels (e.g., flammability, toxicity) is a pressing issue which must be addressed. 

Fortunately, the industry in cooperation with regulators is already in full swing, and the first set of interim guidance on the use of ammonia as fuel will be presented to IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee later in December.

Another major trend affecting the safety of seafarers is the increased geopolitical tension across the globe. In the Black Sea, Russia has attacked Ukraine, stoking up tension between Russia and the West and leading to cracks emerging in the fabric of the international maritime order. In the Middle East, the conflict between Israel and Hamas is used by the Houthis as a vehicle to assert themselves as a state actor, further exacerbating the conflict between Iran and the allied group of Israel, US and UK.

There is every reason to fear that geopolitical developments will have a negative impact on safety levels, with prospects for safety regulations to be circumnavigated, bent, or even broken for further national and commercial interests. 

Moreover, the impact on seafarer security is obvious, with several seafarers wounded and killed through attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. Seafarers should never be collateral damage and BIMCO has repeatedly called for attacks on commercial ships and seafarers to stop.

Moving into 2025, how do you view the maritime digitalization landscape?

The maritime industry is undergoing a digital evolution with a gradual phasing in of digitalized solutions in several areas such as ship operation, ship technical management, and commercial management. The increasing availability of technical data such as engine performance parameters will allow improved efficiency of the technical management of the individual ship.

One of the enduring challenges of maritime digitalization is reaching an agreement on voluntary data-sharing. Mandatory reporting requirements are helping the industry orchestrate standards and it is hoped that this will help pave the way for broader and more transparent sharing of the data that is essential in measuring and improving efficiency. 

From a commercial perspective, safeguards need to be developed and agreed upon to ensure data used for performance claim purposes are validated and verified as a “single truth”.

Does workforce competency match digital needs? How can it be improved?

So far, it appears that the workforce has indeed been able to keep up with the digital developments. We have not seen insurmountable challenges yet with regards to the availability of seafarers being able to absorb the change from analogue to digital solutions. 

However, trouble could be mounting beyond the horizon, so the industry will need to be on their toes to ensure that the workforce is up to speed with evolving training requirements driven by increased digitalization.

The good thing is that identifying emerging risks and adapting training and optimizing operational processes is not a novelty to the maritime industry. Indeed, since the entry into force in 1993 of the ISM Code, shipowner companies have been obliged to identify risks and allocate sufficient resources – including training – to sufficiently mitigate them. 

As far as keeping up with digitalization, I am fairly confident that the industry, with the help of market forces, will be able to gradually adapt to future developments.

In your expert opinion, how did the maritime industry fare at decarbonizing?

The shipping industry is working on decarbonizing the world fleet. This is not an easy task, but we are seeing progress in many areas. One of the areas in which BIMCO sees great potential is operational efficiency. Improving operational efficiency of ships can cut emissions in the short term. 

We therefore support initiatives such as the Blue Visby Solution. This solution advocates the operational practice of “Sail Fast, Then Wait” (SFTW). Reducing SFTW will permit ships to reduce speed, which lowers the carbon footprint of the maritime industry by about 15 percent or overall 45 million tons of CO2 across the tanker fleet and bulker fleets. These are based on figures for 2019.

The Blue Visby Solution is by NAPA which is a maritime software and data services provider for ship design and operations. It is headquartered in Finland with nine other global offices worldwide, including Singapore. 

Photo credit: BIMCO. Jakob Larsen, head of maritime safety and security, BIMCO.