Defining Euphoria: Energy, Synergy and Collaboration

Two days in Massachusetts open the window to the world of maritime education, a complicated regulatory process and unlimited opportunities for seafarers everywhere. Sean Connaughton tells the gathered crowd that “Finally, we have a good story to tell.”

Buzzards Bay, MA: The quarterly MERPAC meeting, this year’s Maritime Education Summit and the boundless joy brought by the freeing of the officers and crew of the MAERSK ALABAMA (led by overnight heroes and Mass. Maritime Academy graduates Captain Richard Phillips and Chief Officer Shane Murphy) came together this week to provide real energy to the business of maritime education and regulatory issues. The added bonus of a keynote speech given by former Maritime Administrator and current ABS executive Sean Connaughton put the exclamation point on the week’s activities at the nation’s oldest continuously operating maritime academy.

The Cape Cod venue of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, although rich in history, did nothing to detract from the cutting edge learning taking place, and plans for what is to come – both in terms of educational initiatives and potential changes to the SOLAS standards being considered by the attending MERPAC members. Indeed, the Merchant Marine Advisory Committee meeting, held simultaneously with the Education Summit, brought together a diverse group of industry professionals, regulatory partners like the Coast Guard, and the full range of federal, state, international, union and private training representatives.

On Thursday morning, and as the Maritime Workforce Panel held a series of vigorous presentations on industry requirements for mariner training, a MERPAC tanker working group also on campus pondered their recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard on the thorny issue of whether or not to require additional tanker-specific firefighting training; who should get that training, why and in what format. But, those events were just two of as many as 40 individual forums that represented the full scope of the education summit and regular MERPAC meeting. Arguably, this was the ultimate “Train the Trainer” session.

As educators gave detailed presentations on the development of new training protocols and vehicles, MERPAC working groups tackled issues on a wide range of regulatory issues. Substantive work took place over the course of the multifaceted two-day gathering and anyone sitting in on a particular working group session (as I did) would perhaps be surprised at the level of detail into which each particular issue was discussed and positions planned. MERPAC in particular is the perfect example of all aspects of the maritime industry and regulatory players working hand-in-hand to create rules and regulations that work for everyone. And the give and take between educators from as many as twenty different schools was as useful as it was entertaining to watch. Almost 29 years after I last went to class at Mass. Maritime, it also dawned on me that this was no longer “your father’s maritime academy.”

Introduced by Congressman Delahunt (D-MA), Sean Connaughton’s Thursday luncheon address bridged the gap between the educational focus of the day and the pressing regulatory matters being considered by MERPAC. One of his first orders of business was to put current events into proper perspective. Touching briefly on the saga of the ALABAMA MAERSK and praising the leadership of the two senior Mass. Maritime deck officers, he moved quickly to the global economy where he succinctly pointed out that even the midst of dismal trade numbers, today’s port throughput is still nearly double what it was ten years ago. And, he asserted, “Despite the recession, the demand for mariners is not going away.” He then cited credible industry estimates of a current worldwide shortage of as many as 33,000 officers, which is expected to grow to more than 40,000 within five years.

With the obvious message that maritime education and industry collaboration in all of that was still an important matter, he also provided a laundry list of at least ten other major issues to be solved on the waterfront, including the need for distance learning to be brought into the mainstream of maritime education. That particular statement had to be music to the ears of eLearning pioneers Chuck Eser and Dan Noonan at the Calhoon MEBA School. In July, the pair will conduct their own education summit that will focus directly on this cutting edge tool. Connaughton, in clear reference to the need for wider use of eLearning vehicles for STCW and Coast Guard compliance, said firmly, “The regulatory system just hasn’t caught up.”

Connaughton finished up by talking about pay and tax parity for American mariners in order to provide them wider opportunities in the international merchant fleet, perhaps echoing our own editorial of last week (read it HERE) and shedding greater light on perhaps the biggest problem in retaining talent at sea. And, as he pointed out so well, it is difficult to convince a marine engineer to stay at sea when a powerplant operator will pay him or her more to stay and work ashore.

It was a logical metaphor that ended his speech, but not necessarily one which could be delivered by just anyone. The former Maritime Administrator, who packed in about ten years of meaningful work into a tenure of just a couple of quick years, exhorted his audience to be “a missionary for the maritime industry.” To be sure, we in the maritime industry have perhaps been our own worst enemies when getting out the word that opportunities exist, even in bad economy, for great things. Today, for example, most Americans do not know that 90 percent of what they consume comes to them via ocean transit. On the other hand, if this week’s energy, collaboration and – yes – the joy that emanated from a little corner of Cape Cod is any indication of what is to come, then that metric is about to change. The time is right, but what comes next is clearly up to us. Excuse me while I get to work. MarEx

Joseph Keefe is the Editor-in-Chief of THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE. He can be reached with comments on this editorial at [email protected]. Join the Maritime Executive ‘Linked In’ group at by clicking http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/47685