Seeking the best practices of assessment in maritime simulator training

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A port attractiveness assessment framework: Chittagong Port’s attractiveness from the users’ perspective

This study evaluates the attractiveness of the Chittagong Port of Bangladesh from the port users’ perspective. Existing maritime literature is focused on major ports of Europe, East Asia and North America, but many secondary ports of the mainline maritime network, which play a crucial role in their countries, are overlooked. Chittagong Port is such a port having an enormous impact on the economy of Bangladesh. The perceived attractiveness of this port to its users is assessed in this study based on six factors: port connectivity, facilities, costs, service quality, policy and management, and green port management practices. Data are collected on a 7-point Likert scale for 25 measurement items, and the port attractiveness measurement model is validated using Confirmatory Composite Analysis (CCA). The results indicate that the port users’ find the port’s connectivity most attractive and green port management practices least attractive. We also observe that port users with a high frequency of port usage find Chittagong Port less attractive compared to less frequent users. These findings have significant policy implications for the port authority and policymakers to enhance the port’s attractiveness, which is in a monopolistic position handling more than 90% of international trade for Bangladesh. Further, a validation of the port attractiveness assessment framework enables researchers and practitioners to use it as a standard instrument for assessing the attractiveness of ports having similar characteristics globally

Exploring the Current Practices and Future Needs of Marine Engineering Education in Bangladesh

Developing countries, despite being the major suppliers of maritime manpower, lag in their future-proof competence development. This study explores whether the current maritime education and training (MET) practices for marine engineering education in a developing nation are perceived as sufficient by the early-stage marine engineers. The current competence requirements set by the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW’74 as amended) are compared and contrasted against the current MET practices as well as the future needs for remotely controlled autonomous ship operations. Bangladesh, a maritime nation in the Southeast Asia region was selected as a developing nation for this study. An online survey was conducted among early-stage professional marine engineers. The analysis of 62 valid responses revealed that current MET practices are significantly perceived to be satisfactory for acquiring non-technical competencies, such as being proficient in the English language, but are less satisfactory for instilling technical competencies such as of electrical and electronics, knowledge regarding seaworthiness of ships, as well as medical first aid. In addition, the findings highlight the perceived gaps in existing marine engineering education as well as the need for future studies focused on re-training the future maritime workforce that could potentially improve MET strategies and practices in the developing nations

Learning from accidents: Nontechnical skills deficiency in the European process industry

Safety-critical industries have long been subjected to extensive research and development to enhance operator performance to improve their efficiency. From a human factors perspective, much of the work in process industries is related to either enhancing technical training of operators or related to improving the physical ergonomics of hazardous workplaces. The importance of Nontechnical Skills (NTS) in the process industries have traditionally been less emphasized, while other domains (e.g., aviation, healthcare) have led the development of investigating and improving NTS for the sharp-end operators. This study aims to investigate the association of NTS deficiencies to the major accidents from the past 5 years in the process industries within the European Union by analyzing the accident reports from The Major Accident Reporting System (MARS) database. The accident analysis results reveal potential NTS deficiencies in 27% (17 out of 64) of the cases involving the lack of situational awareness, decision making, problem-solving, communication, leadership, and time management issues. Based on the results of the analysis, a few implications, as well as future research directions, are proposed, which could facilitate the stakeholders in addressing NTS deficiencies of European process industry operators

Learning from accidents: Nontechnical skills deficiency in the European process industry

Safety-critical industries have long been subjected to extensive research and development to enhance operator performance to improve their efficiency. From a human factors perspective, much of the work in process industries is related to either enhancing technical training of operators or related to improving the physical ergonomics of hazardous workplaces. The importance of Nontechnical Skills (NTS) in the process industries have traditionally been less emphasized, while other domains (e.g., aviation, healthcare) have led the development of investigating and improving NTS for the sharp-end operators. This study aims to investigate the association of NTS deficiencies to the major accidents from the past 5 years in the process industries within the European Union by analyzing the accident reports from The Major Accident Reporting System (MARS) database. The accident analysis results reveal potential NTS deficiencies in 27% (17 out of 64) of the cases involving the lack of situational awareness, decision making, problem-solving, communication, leadership, and time management issues. Based on the results of the analysis, a few implications, as well as future research directions, are proposed, which could facilitate the stakeholders in addressing NTS deficiencies of European process industry operators

The continuum of simulator-based maritime training and education

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to the maritime supply chain and called for accelerated adoption of digital technologies in various aspects of maritime operations, including the area of maritime education and training (MET). This paper aims to discuss the current maritime simulator-based training and educational practices that forms an integral part in seafarer training and competency development. The study provides a review of the existing simulators in use in MET, and discusses upon the technological and pedagogical advancement of maritime simulator-based training interventions with predictions regarding the future MET practices with use of virtual reality and cloud-based simulators. This study—by focusing on ship’s bridge operations—highlights the characteristics of various types of simulators and also discusses the role of instructors, challenges, and opportunities involving future simulator-based MET due to accelerated adoption of digital technologies and the need to comply with pandemic-related restrictions for MET institutes. The analysis generated in the paper may contribute to the ongoing discussion regarding the future of simulator-based MET and the fulfillment of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 in the maritime sector