In the current market where competition for quality, highly competent, motivated seafarers is fierce, it is more important than ever for owners and ship managers with ambitious business goals to be able to document and track the competence of their officers and crew.

DNV SeaSkill has for some time been helping companies to develop, certify and maintain competence management systems. Such systems help not only owners and ship managers but also the individual officers themselves.

Today’s officers have higher expectations with regard to their careers. They want to know where they stand on the promotion scale and how to achieve the next level.
A good competence management system that reflects not only the company’s business goals but also the individual’s needs could very well be a key component in a company’s retention efforts.

The simplest way to think of maritime competence management is as a wheel. At the centre are the company’s business goals and organisation. These business goals drive the definition of core competence needs for your particular company. DNV SeaSkill then helps you to devise ways of assessing the current competencies in your organisation, because there are no doubt many. The result of that process is a mapping of competence gaps and the development of a plan to close these gaps – through the implementation of, for example, training solutions tailored to your company’s needs. Following this, the results are reviewed on a regular basis, based on your company’s actual situation – your accident reports, your newbuildings and your implementations of new technologies – and the circle starts again, resulting in a living competence management system that helps you achieve your business goals.

DNV SeaSkill is arranging a Maritime Competence Management workshop in October at the DNV Academy in Hamburg. During the workshop, a DNV SeaSkill expert will guide participants through the competence management wheel so you can determine the steps needed in your organisation. Whether you have yet to develop a competence management system or your company already has one in place, you can benefit from this workshop.