74 SUOMEN MERENKULKU ■ FINLANDS SJÖFART THE GLOBAL SEAFARER need to prepare seafarers for working with new maritime fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia. These developments are central to decarbonisation efforts, but they also introduce new safety challenges. For us, this is about fighting for seafarers’ rights to a ‘Just Transition’ – the principle that no one should be put in harm’s way or find themselves out of a job as the industry moves away from traditional fossil fuels. The secretary-general was right to highlight the need for new training standards, says Mr Appleton, but unfortunately those were never going to emerge from this session of HTW. ‘You can’t define training standards until you fully understand the risks, and the IMO is still in the process of conducting a comprehensive safety analysis of these fuels. The findings will inform guidelines on risk mitigation, which will in turn shape future training requirements.’ In the meantime, interim guidance is in place to bridge the gap, and the development of long-term, standardised training for alternative fuels will come later in the review process. ‘Nothing is agreed until everything’s agreed,’ Mr Appleton notes, ‘so everything that comes out of this year’s discussions will feed into the ongoing STCW review that will culminate in one major set of changes in 2029 or 2030.’ CREDITS: GETTY IMAGES
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