Innovation Director Valentinos Steliou presents at Crew Welfare Week
Mintra’s Innovation Director will be presenting at the third consecutive annual Crew Welfare Week, taking place from 22-22 June 2023.
In his video presentation titled ‘Developing for the Seafarer of Tomorrow’, Valentinos Steliou will be discussing the role and importance of soft skills for the seafarer post-Covid-19 era. He will focus on the role technology will play in supporting and developing seafarers.
Valentinos has a diverse background in developing and bringing to the maritime sector leading human resource management solutions and services. He is experienced in supporting the operation of as well as advising on the strategic positioning of organisations.
Mintra’s Innovation Director Valentinos Steliou said, “It’s an honour to have been invited to speak on such a crucial topic for the maritime industry. From Covid-19 to the Ukraine crisis, global seafarers continue to face a barrage of unprecedented challenges. The pressing issue of the emotional and physical welfare of seafarers has never been as paramount. Technological innovations play a huge role in how crewing and ship managers can mitigate the impact of modern-day challenges and support the wellbeing of everyone onboard.”
Crew Welfare Week is an industry initiative set up to create a platform to discuss and embrace the role of seafarers in shipping. The three-day event will bring together industry leaders and stakeholders to discuss pressing issues in maritime.
Valentinos Steliou, Innovation Director (MD Cyprus)The need for upskilling and reskilling of our seafarers to become ready for the new era has become a priority. "
For the last 10 years, we, our industry, and our crew, have been fully occupied with great efforts for digitalization across the entire value chain. We have seen the evolution in the interconnection between people, vessels, and systems, through real-time data exchange. We are seeing initiatives to bring autonomous ships, Artificial Intelligence, and process automation. We are in the middle of an era that will make green shipping the new normal.
Our industry confidently yet righteously makes its move towards a new shipping era simply because it keeps the world moving. While the technological evolution has impacted every corner of our industry, it has also brought challenges to our seafarers and their future. In addition to those challenges, we have been caught off-guard by the pandemic which immobilized crew changes and brought uncertainty. However, this also helped our industry to adopt new and emerging opportunities.
The essential skills that a seafarer had to possess to navigate metaphorically and physically during COVID-19 has prompted all of us to look at skills beyond the traditional technical competencies. Such as resilience, communication, flexibility, leadership, accountability, problem sensitivity and many more. Those have been the skills that kept our industry on its feet during hardship and they are still holding strong during today’s global geo-political landscape.
Having realized the importance of non-technical skills, our industry has adjusted its strategy and has started responding to crucial questions:
- Where do we stand today in this regard?
- How equipped are we today to prepare the seafarer of tomorrow?
- Are we able to evaluate non-technical skills, identify gaps, and help our crew develop the multi-dimensional skills needed for the future?
