BY Shivani
Littoral Communications organised its third edition of ‘Littoral Future Maritime Studies India’ for the year 2022 on 11th March in The Lalit, Mumbai.
The seminar discusses the Evaluation of Virtual Learning, Global Maritime Studies Challenges, Government Policies and Regulations, the Importance of Future Maritime Studies, Emerging Trends and Outlook, and Adaptive Learning Platforms.
Deepak Shetty I.R.S (Retd.)., former secretary to the government of India and director-general of shipping, addressed the seminar on Friday as the Chief Guest. He discussed the general shipping and DNS programmes, as well as Indian maritime education. “The fundamentals of core Indian maritime education have served the interests of the Indian maritime sector to a large extent in a very human way,” says Deepak Shetty. “My instinctive self is that we need to go beyond the status quo,” he added. “We often position ourselves and say that we have been in confinity with the STCW convention of the IMO, which is 2010.”
“We are extremely delighted to say that we have gone beyond the STCW convention, for example, in our DNS programme, which spans roughly 18 months rather than the bare minimum stipulated by the STCW convention of 12 months,” said Deepak Shetty.
“The fact is that there are multiple trend lines that are emerging more importantly across the globe, quite apparent and very perceptible, and I believe we’ll be foolhardy not to see everything that lies ahead of the maritime industry,” Shetty said.
“These are obstacles, but they also hold the potential for an opportunity for us to leverage,” Shetty explained.
“We have traditionally been fascinated with the intricacies of maritime education,” he continued, “and we have been made to believe that it is all about the three major fields of naval architecture, nautical, and marine engineering.” “I agree that this is, without a doubt, the trinity of pillars of maritime education, but the time has come to explore beyond.”
Deepak stated, “We are the fifth-largest supplier nation in the marine sector, and we are proud of ourselves, but when there is a decrease, do we seek for alternate careers;” he added with an example, “do we teach our cadets in those directions to understand it may be a prospective scenario?”
Deepam Rastogi, Managing Director of CMG Maritime Academy, spoke about the importance of future maritime studies, and Capt. Krishnamurthy, Tolani Maritime Institute, spoke about virtual learning maritime studies.
A paper on Maritime skills for dealing with human ware on board and ashore was presented by Capt. Ajay Achudhan, Founder, Synergistic Solutions. Mr Mehernosh Shroff, Managing Director, Seaworthy Shipping, counselled on the best ways to earn a degree and diploma around the world. Capt. P. Rajkumar, Deputy Director, Naval Maritime Academy, lectured about government laws and regulations. A High Court lawyer, Lavina Kriplani, provided a legal perspective on Indian marine studies.
Earlier Raja Vaiz, chairman of Littoral Communications delivered the welcome address. The chairman of Seashine Global, Capt. Mukesh Gupta offered the vote of gratitude. And Capt. DK Singh, Founder President of Sarvodaya Foundation moderated the event.
Littoral Communications has eight seminars planned for this year, with this one being the first of 2022. The Littoral Tamil Nadu Cruise Tourism Conclave-2022 will take place in April in Chennai, followed by the Littoral Green Shipping India 2022, 4th Edition on April 29th in Mumbai, and the Littoral International Women’s Day for women in maritime on May 18th in Mumbai.