KOCHI: The need for our technical education to quickly catch up to the fast-paced evolution of technology and emerging trends in maritime trade was highlighted at the National Maritime Seminar on ‘Emerging Trends in Merchant Shipping’ held at KM School of Marine Engineering on Wednesday.
“Technological advancements like 3D printing, robotics and light-weight shipbuilding materials have the potential to disrupt the industry,” said P G Shankaran, pro-VC, CUSAT. He highlighted the need to remain at the forefront of technical innovations to be able to become competent in solving the issues pertaining to environmental concerns, improving the economics of trade and to conform to the newer rules and regulations of the industry.
K M Sivakholundu, vice-chancellor at the Indian Maritime University, Chennai, cautioned of the need to be aware of the trends in the industry, and plug the mismatch in demand-supply and quality of technical education imparted.
“Less than 10 per cent of the graduates are directly employable straight out of college in India. On the number of graduates produced, the US economy is sized at $18 trillion compared to India at $ 2 trillion, but the contrast is that we produce about 15 lakh engineering graduates to USA’s 2 lakh,” said Sivakholundu.
“With the influx of sensors, tracking via GPS, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, we can expect autonomous ships, one that can be commanded from the shore in a few years,” said Bejoy Bhaskar, director, Cochin Shipyard Ltd. The seminar saw the discussion on topics such as emerging China in the 21st century, greenhouse gas reduction: strategy and ways forward, maritime offshore - an insight and current days hassles of a seafarer.