It’s A Small World After All
Managing modern vessels has changed across the industry with new fuel options, digital equipment, sonar navigational technologies and real-time satellite communications. While this sounds like a brave new world, the most crucial element remains the human one. We must train, teach and test mariners and crew repeatedly because ship accidents should never happen!
This edition features Anglo-Eastern Ship Management and its CEO, Bjørn Højgaard. There's been tremendous growth in the Hong Kong-based company under the leadership of the naval-trained officer and master mariner Højgaard. We've covered the industry since 1996 and finding leaders with his kind of expertise is always inspiring.
Speaking of smart people, Sankar Ragavan, CEO of MariApps Marine Solutions, is the subject of this edition's Executive Achievement feature. An IT intellect working at a ship management company, Ragavan realized that a Web-based and mobile app to manage data and people was missing, so he created one and founded MariApps, part of the Bernhard Schulte group, to market it. The rest, as they say, is history.
Meanwhile, our regular columnists were busy getting to the bottom of things. Senior Editor Jack O'Connell provides an update on the cruise industry and his most recent travels in “Cruise Mania." View from the E.U. columnist Erik Kravets delights with his analysis of Europe's immigration crisis and shipping's involvement in it, and Eye on Energy guru Allen Brooks puts his finger on a hitherto ignored and unrecognized issue – shipping's critical role in the transport of critical minerals needed for the clean energy transition. Enjoy!
In our annual Academies & Institutes feature, master mariner Chad Fuhrmann says the industry is struggling to find and retain qualified seafarers and training schools are rising to the challenge. A must-read. In “Trusted Partners," News Editor Paul Benecki surveys Ship Management and finds that owners are increasingly reliant on progressive third-party companies to manage their fleets and crews.
On the technology front, "Delivering on the Promise" is the apt title of Associate Editor Allan Jordan's article on Maritime Software, and – by popular demand – we've added a new yearly feature on the all-important subject of Al, authored by Sean Hogue, another master mariner. Lots of intellectual capital to digest!
Rounding out this jam-packed edition are Sean Holt's incisive analysis of the pros and cons of ammonia as a ship fuel, Pat Zeitler's survey of ship registries and Tom Peters' review of breakbulk ports, which are doing just fine – like pretty much everything else in shipping.
“From the Bridge" is full of memorable quotes and fun factoids taken from the articles in this issue, so don't miss out on that either.
Enjoy the rest of the summer, and thanks for your continued readership and support!
Tony Munoz is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Maritime Executive
To read the latest edition of the magazine, go to The Maritime Executive July/August 2024 Maritime Training and Education Edition. To subscribe to the magazine, please go to https://www.maritime-executive.com/subscribe.
