Maritime education development for environment protection behavior in the autonomous ships era

Abstract

Shipping is the last sector of the global transport chain, where the autonomy of the transport is at a very early stage. During the second decade of the 21st century, we have been actively involved by powerful corporations in the process of creating an autonomous ship to solve problems of design, economic, environmental and social nature. In this process, huge financial and research resources have been attracted, which assures that a long-lasting and sustainable effect is sought. Research on autonomous vessels are diverse – structural, navigational, infrastructural, communicational, environmental, social. Many of them are based on the current state of shipping and a very small proportion uses actual achievements. Education in the field of environmental protection and the needs of the future management and operation of autonomous ships are some of the shortcomings in human knowledge today. The article analyses the current state of education and qualification of seafarers through the prism of the new realities. The authors present the experience of Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in the introduction and development of new maritime specialties that form the competencies of future seafarers.