Developing soft skills such as leadership, resilience and stress management, implementing new regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships, nurturing a maritime safety culture through the sharing of ‘lessons learned’, preparing for Port State Control inspections and integrating ESG principles into corporate strategies are top priority for the maritime community and as such, have been incorporated into the most multidisciplinary and participatory Training Program (2023-2024) presented ever by HELMEPA.

The program is addressed to seafarers of all nationalities and office staff, offering a holistic learning experience comprising 38 seminars, with a total duration of 275 hours, structured in 28 thematic axes. It is implemented with the participation of more than 50 lecturers from member companies and is supported by HELMEPA’s Training Committee, now with an enlarged composition. Promoting the voluntary sharing of knowledge, best practices and expertise, the new 2023-2024 training program constitutes a unique, at global level, educational, multi-participatory learning platform reaching out to a membership base of 316 companies and organizations from the wider maritime sector, 2.270 ships of all types and 14,000 seafarers

The program was presented to the Training Committee on Tuesday 4 April, at the "ATHINA" Maritime Learning and Development Center, in the presence of HELMEPA’s Chairperson, Ms Semiramis Paliou, our host Mr. Andreas Martinos of member-company Minerva Dry Inc, HELMEPA Board members Messrs George Kallianis and Andreas Giakoumelos, and the Director General of HELMEPA, Ms Olga Stavropoulou. Presenters were Messrs Constantinos Triantafyllou, Head of Strategy and Development and Iasonas Lainos, Maritime Manager of HELMEPA.

Welcoming the participants, Mrs. Paliou mentioned: "The green and digital transition of shipping has certainly highlighted technical issues such as the energy efficiency of ships to reduce greenhouse emissions, the development of new low- or zero-carbon fuels, and ship automation. However, it has also highlighted the urgent need to ensure that the human element is and will remain at the center of developments, and maritime education needs to be constantly updated and harmonized with the requirements of the modern ship, taking into account technological and regulatory developments in the shipping industry."

In the discussion that followed, Committee members stressed the need for zero tolerance on accidents on board, the use of new AI technologies in training and enhanced cooperation with maritime stakeholders. The new e-Learning platform of HELMEPA, developed in cooperation with SQLearn and offered free of charge to members, was also presented along with the launch of the HELMEPA ACADEMY, which includes seminars and workshops focused on the human factor and soft skills, sustainable development, ESG and attracting youth to shipping and the blue economy.

The meeting concluded with the awarding of commemorative plaques to the Honorary Chairman of HELMEPA’s Committee, Capt. John Drakogiannopoulos of Costamare Shipping and Capt. Michalis Fragkias, for their voluntary contribution to the work of HELMEPA, followed by a tour of the "ATHINA" Maritime Learning and Development Center.

Capt. Nikos Polymeris of member-company Danaos Shipping was appointed as the new Chairman of HELMEPA’s Training Committee. Members of the Committee are the following (in alphabetical order per member company):