Concerns about current and future officer shortages have intensified interest in understanding maritime students’ career plans. While previous research has primarily examined motivations for entering maritime education and training (MET), comparative evidence on students’ seafaring intentions across national contexts remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining career plans and seafaring intentions among 1,548 maritime students enrolled in MET programmes in China, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, and the United Kingdom. Using cross-national survey data, the study analyses differences in students’ intended career trajectories and explores whether demographic characteristics (gender, age, prior sea experience) and programme-related factors (programme type, level, duration, and exposure to shipboard training) are associated with intentions to pursue a seafaring career. The results reveal substantial cross-country variation in the proportion of students intending to work at sea, with higher levels observed in European countries compared to China. Logistic regression analyses further indicate that demographic and programme-related predictors are significant in the Chinese sample but not in the European sample, suggesting context-specific patterns. By providing the first comparative analysis of seafaring intentions across both European and Asian maritime education contexts, the study highlights the importance of national, educational, and demographic factors in shaping students’ seafaring intentions. The findings underline the need for context-sensitive recruitment and retention strategies to support the future supply of seafarer officers.
Contemporary efforts to innovate simulation-based maritime education increasingly involve the development of multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) systems that use large language models (LLMs) to generate automated feedback on student performance. These systems are often presented as solutions to challenges such as limited instructor capacity, inconsistent assessment practices, and demands for greater standardization and accountability in competence evaluation. While such developments create new possibilities for personalized feedback and enhanced instructor support, they also raise important questions concerning transparency, responsibility, professional judgment, and regulatory compliance in maritime education. This study examines how MMLA can be introduced within a policy landscape shaped by the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), European higher education policies, and the European Union AI Act. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), we analyze how maritime simulator instructors and policy experts (n = 12) position MMLA within the broader activity system of maritime education and training (MET), with particular attention to the relationships between new technologies, division of labor, and regulations. The analysis focuses on how MMLA reshapes instructor roles and feedback practices, as well as the contradictions and tensions that emerge between technological innovation, regulatory compliance, and the embodied, situated nature of professional judgment in simulator-based training. Our findings reveal tensions and contradictions between three fundamental aspects: innovation vs. regulation, automation vs. autonomy, and engineering design vs. pedagogical intent. The study concludes with implication for responsible implementation of MMLA in simulation-based maritime training.
The introduction of artificial intelligence is changing education around the world. Applications based on large language models offer students and teachers new possibilities to generate text for assignments, comments and thesis. Education institutes are all struggling to keep up with developments and rethink their educational models to maintain proof of learning. In this paper, we report on some experiments that were conducted with AI assisted learning at the MSc program MEL and the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Our analysis thus far reveals the veracity of some of the fears and concerns in academic institutions concerning the use of AI in education. While the university is developing protocols and guidelines, developments in AI are progressing faster than expected. Students use the available tools at their disposal, with varying degrees of success. We argue in this paper that a re-imagining of academic education is necessary to ensure our students really do become independent thinking maritime professionals.
Ports play a pivotal role in the global transportation, economy, and trade landscape owing to the multitude of benefits they offer in today’s world. Efficiency emerges as a critical factor in achieving a competitive edge in the international arena. Consequently, employing an appropriate model for port performance evaluation becomes imperative. Port performance evaluation serves as a suitable management tool. This study delves into the most applicable methods for port performance evaluation. After understanding the network structure of ports and examining the criteria influencing port efficiency, a comprehensive evaluation framework is proposed, encompassing aggressive, benevolent, and conservative perspectives. The network structure is modeled as a two-stage process. The first stage focuses on physical infrastructure, while the second stage incorporates discharge and loading operations. The decision-maker can then select the most suitable approach considering the policies of the decision makers. The network DEA models were implemented using GAMS. The efficiency of the ports included in the case study was then compared based on the three proposed DEA approaches through the cross-efficiency method. The modeling results indicate that Shahid Rajaee Port ranks first across all three approaches while Abadan and Amir Abad are among the least efficient. Moreover, a detailed slack analysis was conducted to identify precisely which inputs require reduction and which outputs need improvement at each stage of the network, providing deeper insights for targeted operational enhancements and strategic planning.
This article discusses two major legal challenges which are of increasing practical relevance in an emerging era of integrated AI utilization as applied in the maritime industry. First, like all other moving assets which are constantly online and connected to “cyberspace”, ships need to be as resilient as possible to withstand any potential cyberattacks – an area which will be increasingly driven by malicious opportunities of AI tools. This results in a modernized legal understanding of “cyber seaworthiness” which integrates expected standards of care, readiness and preparedness for intangible aspects of ship operations into the traditional concept of seaworthiness. Second, AI tools will increasingly allow the structuring of (formerly unstructured) data. More data is constantly created, especially by smart “connected products” – both onshore and offshore. This is also subject to a modernized legal understanding of data law. Thus, the key aim of this article is to highlight that data – representing “the new oil of the twenty-first century” – does not flow in a legal vacuum. This notion applies for the maritime sector and international shipping as well. The best practical example for mandatory legal rules is currently provided by the EU Data Act (applicable since 2025). However, other regulators will enact similar modernized data laws. The practical relevance of data law will only increase across all industrial sectors, including the maritime service industry and international shipping. Managing data in a legally-compliant way, taking into account all related innovation and developments of AI, will thus be an integral part of an updated legal understanding of modern maritime risk management.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the same time perceived to offer significant opportunities while presenting unprecedented challenges in all forms of education. Maritime education has not been spared and institutions – in particular at the higher levels of education – are having to contend with either reactively responding to the development of AI or proactively developing AI systems for their unique purposes. AI is argued to be, in essence, not merely a pedagogical tool but the latest phase of an autonomous technological system that reorganizes knowledge, cognition, and institutional purpose around efficiency, rather than human values primarily, thereby risking the erosion of education’s human-oriented aims unless consciously resisted and redirected. Based on reflections on the thinking of Jaques Ellul, the 20th Century French philosopher, primarily, as well as others, this opinion piece, while acknowledging the perceived benefits of AI, discusses some of the challenges arising from the apparently inexorable trend toward global deference to AI. This paper focuses on “maritime education” at the higher education level (hence the restriction to “maritime education” and not “maritime education and training”) although the impact of AI at all levels of education and for all economic sectors is acknowledged.
The global maritime sector is undergoing a profound transformation as seaports evolve from traditional cargo hubs into intelligent, sustainable ecosystems. This paper examines the strategic integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled Digital Twins (DTs) as a foundational framework for achieving carbon-neutral smart seaport operations. Drawing on recent theoretical developments and empirical case studies, the study traces the conceptual evolution of digital twin architecture in maritime logistics from perception and transmission layers to AI-driven intelligence and application interfaces. Advanced AI methodologies, including Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Random Forest (RF), and Reinforcement Learning (RL), are analyzed for their roles in predictive scheduling, risk classification, and dynamic resource optimization. The paper also explores how AI-DT integration enables proactive decarbonization strategies, including Just-in-Time vessel arrivals, real-time emissions mapping, and adaptive energy management. Situated within the Industry 5.0 paradigm, the study highlights a critical shift from efficiency-centric automation toward system-wide antifragility, human-centricity, and environmental stewardship. Findings indicate measurable improvements across key sustainability metrics, including reductions in carbon emissions and vessel turnaround times. This work contributes to the growing body of knowledge on smart port governance and offers strategic insights for port authorities, logistics planners, and policymakers navigating the transition to green maritime infrastructure.
Shipping connectivity is a crucial enabler of international trade and functioning of the global economy. While significant efforts have been expanded to analyze shipping connectivity and AI, the studies are largely discrete applications which are focused on specific operational parameters related to vessel or port activities. To address this limitation, the research presents a data-centric conceptual framework that encompasses a comprehensive array of shipping connectivity elements for application of AI. The research proposes six data dimensions organized by the perspectives of shipping connectivity stakeholders, shipping sectors, shipping operations, port-calls, trading routes, and data lifecycle. Vessel operations, port-calls and trading routes form the three components of shipping connectivity. These vital components of shipping connectivity must be considered within the context of their associated shipping sectors and stakeholders involved. Underpinning the whole framework is the dimension of data lifecycle, given that data availability and quality ultimately affect the level of AI applicability.
Increasing automation in the maritime industry is transforming job demands from predominantly physical to cognitively intensive tasks, underscoring the need to better understand factors influencing mental workload. This pre-registered systematic review follows PRISMA guidelines and synthesises 51 empirical studies on mental workload in maritime contexts. It proposes a framework of four overarching categories – system-related, task-related, external, and individual or organisational – comprising 21 factors. These factors demonstrate that maritime tasks such as navigation, communication, and port manoeuvres are particularly associated with high mental workload, depending on additional factors such as experience, role responsibilities, and environmental conditions. The effects of automation on mental workload are currently examined only in relation to the level of automation, system design, and system reliability. This review highlights the ongoing complexity of traditional maritime work alongside the emerging requirements of digitalisation and automation, underscoring the necessity of re-examining traditional influencing factors within this evolving context. The study emphasises the importance of integrating user-centred system design and targeted training to optimise mental workload in future maritime workplaces. Significant methodological heterogeneity across the reviewed studies underscores the need for robust, interdisciplinary approaches to advance beyond descriptive findings.
This research examines the evolution of marketing implementation in Greek tanker companies from 2005 to 2025. The results show a fundamental development in shipping marketing orientation - from basic and limited marketing approach in 2005 to a more strategic and customer-oriented approach in 2025. Over the two decades, tanker companies progressively established and maintained distinct marketing departments, adopted enhanced marketing information systems, and applied improved marketing mix, differentiation and positioning strategies. Nowadays, digitalisation and sustainability play a significant role, with emphasis on online promotion, green initiatives, and corporate image. The implementation of marketing in the Greek tanker companies offers significant competitive advantages by improving customer orientation and service differentiation. It enables firms to better understand market trends and charterers’ needs, thereby improving strategic decision-making and long-term client relationships. Through effective promotion and corporate communication, marketing strengthens brand image and fosters sustainable growth. Ultimately, it transforms the shipping company from a purely operational entity into a strategically managed, market-oriented organisation. Overall, Greek tanker companies have become proactive, recognising that marketing is an essential tool for improving chartering policy, strengthening competitiveness, building long-term relationships with customers, achieving optimisation of fleet employment and enhancing commercial success.
Technology adoption within the complex and multi-actor maritime ecosystem is a process influenced not only by technological and economic factors, but also by relational interdependencies among ecosystem actors. Despite a wealth of research on technology adoption, the role of relationships in shaping adoption decisions remains largely overlooked. This study addresses this gap by introducing a relational perspective that shifts the focus from adoption as an individual choice to a process shaped by reciprocal interactions and interdependencies embedded within a broader ecosystem context. It thus provides a conceptual basis for technology adoption within the maritime ecosystem. Through a framework-driven literature review, this research identifies and classifies key relational determinants that shape technology adoption decisions across maritime ecosystem actors. The results show that the literature in this field still emphasises individual and product-related determinants, while social and relational dimensions are treated in a fragmented way. Relationships between buyers and sellers and interactions between buyers and their external ecosystem remain scarcely explored, limiting the explanatory capacity of existing technology adoption models and their applicability to the inherently interdependent nature of maritime innovation ecosystem. This research advances theory by enriching technology adoption studies with an ecosystem-oriented socio-relational perspective that captures collective elements of adoption behavior. On a practical level, it offers insights into managing social and relational complexities, improving collaboration and optimising technology deployment strategies at ecosystem level.
In English marine insurance law, an insurer’s liability is determined by identifying the proximate cause of a loss. When a subsequent, independent event intervenes after the insured peril, the question arises whether the chain of causation has been broken. This is framed through the doctrine of novus actus interveniens. This article argues that the doctrine has no independent existence in marine insurance law, being entirely subsumed by the proximate cause inquiry under the Marine Insurance Act 1906 (MIA 1906). This subsumption produces both clarifying and complicating effects on its application. On the clarifying side, the proximate cause framework, which prioritises efficiency and predominance over strict temporal sequence, provides a more coherent and commercially grounded basis for assessing intervening events than the tort-derived novus actus label suggests. On the complicating side, however, the absence of an independent doctrine creates uncertainty in cases involving human intervention, concurrent causes of equal efficacy, and the allocation of loss between insured and excluded perils. By tracing the evolution of the proximate cause doctrine from its early temporal formulations through case law, this article clarifies when the causal chain is maintained or disrupted and highlights the unresolved doctrinal questions.
The rate of cyberattacks worldwide is increasing. Many of these attacks have resulted in financial, reputational, and operational losses. Despite these threats, it is difficult to predict how causative factors will evolve because attacks and bad actors are sophisticated and unpredictable. The maritime industry is not immune to these attacks and has been the subject of many over the years. While some guidelines exist to evaluate vulnerabilities, they often lack the computational capacity to quantitatively estimate the risk levels of maritime companies. There is therefore an urgent need to develop utility models that can serve as a computational bridge between technical vulnerability and financial underwriting. This paper, therefore, presents a utility model to assess the risk level for organizations vulnerable to maritime cyberattacks. The research examines a range of factors that affect the likelihood of a successful cyber-attack and develops a Bayesian-based model. The model is demonstrated using case studies involving data breaches and ransomware attacks. This study would benefit the insurance industry by identifying the risk factors and using them to estimate risk premiums. The outcome of the study could help build emergency response and contingency plans to address cyber breaches and to design resilient cyber systems as well.
This study investigates the relationship between Green Human Resource Management (Green HRM) practices and social sustainability in coastal maritime firms. While existing research has largely focused on the environmental outcomes of Green HRM, its contribution to social sustainability remains underexplored, particularly in the maritime context, which is characterized by strong environmental exposure and social interdependencies. Using a quantitative research design, data were collected through questionnaires administered to 96 senior executives (CEOs and directors) from shipping and shipping-related companies operating in the coastal zone of the Attica region, Greece. Social sustainability was conceptualized as a multidimensional construct encompassing innovation, poverty elimination, education, health, water stewardship and community engagement, while Green HRM was operationalized through green involvement, training and performance management practices. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate the measurement models, followed by regression analysis to examine the predictive effect of Green HRM on social sustainability. The results indicate that Green HRM practices have a significant and positive effect on social sustainability. Firms with more developed Green HRM systems exhibit stronger performance across key social sustainability dimensions, including employee well-being, social equity and community-oriented initiatives. The findings contribute to the sustainability and human resource management literature by providing empirical evidence that Green HRM functions as a strategic organizational mechanism fostering social sustainability in coastal maritime firms and offers practical insights for advancing socially resilient business models.
Maritime accidents in West African waters impose substantial socioeconomic costs through injuries, fatalities, and consequential damage, including pollution, vessel loss, and financial impacts. This study analyzes 25 years (1997–2022) of accident records from the IMO’s GISIS, examining vessel characteristics, type, purpose, and tonnage as predictors of accident occurrence. Survival analysis identified the Gompertz model as the best fit (l = -25.47), reflecting exponentially increasing risk due to vessel aging and cumulative operational exposure. Observed outcomes, casualty, fatality, and consequential damage, were included as interaction terms with vessel characteristics to assess associations with accident hazards. Results show smaller vessels are more often involved in non-fatal accidents but can experience significant casualty events, whereas merchant vessels are more frequently associated with severe outcomes. Fishing vessels and tanker ships exhibit elevated risks of total loss, serious injury, and fatalities. These findings highlight the heterogeneous vulnerability of vessel type, purpose and size, supporting targeted risk assessments and context-specific safety interventions in West African waters.
Ports play a vital role in facilitating trade, which leads to improved welfare for consumers and increased returns to factors of production in the private sector. Despite the relevance of port infrastructure in international trade, fundamental structures exist that have the potential to consolidate the gains from this infrastructure. This study investigates the impact of innovation and institutional regulatory quality on the relationship between port infrastructure quality and international trade. To this end, the study adopts the Chamberlin-Heckscher-Ohlin approach, which incorporates tangible and intangible endowments associated with economies of scale theories in explaining international trade flows. Using fixed-effects panel estimates for selected African countries 2011 to 2019, the study finds that port infrastructure quality has a positive but statistically insignificant effect on trade openness once macroeconomic and institutional factors are controlled for, indicating that port improvements alone are insufficient to drive trade expansion. GDP growth and capital investment consistently enhance trade performance, while innovation promotes trade openness independently. Regulatory quality shows a negative direct effect, suggesting that weak or burdensome regulations may act as non-tariff barriers in the African context. However, innovation significantly strengthens the trade-enhancing role of regulatory quality, highlighting the importance of complementary institutional and technological capacities. Policy simulations indicate that improvements in port quality yield only modest and uncertain trade gains, underscoring the need for integrated strategies that combine infrastructure development with institutional reform and innovation support.
Since the 2000s, maritime connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa has undergone significant transformations, largely driven by the advent and expansion of containerization. Previous works have shown that containerization have both increased the number and variety of connections with other regions. However, its impact on intra-regional connectivity remains an open question. While numerous scholars have emphasized the enhanced connectivity of African ports with foreign regions like Europe and Asia, there is still considerable debate regarding the extent to which this process has also strengthened maritime links among African countries themselves. This paper explores the evolution of maritime connectivity in West Africa by analyzing vessel movements over the 2006–2016 period. To capture the nuances of maritime connectivity across different phases of containerization, we investigate networks involving container vessels. Drawing on data on vessel movements from Lloyd’s database, this study critically examines the structural dynamics of maritime networks to assess whether containerization has facilitated greater intra-regional connectivity or primarily reinforced West Africa’s connections with external regions.
