Maritime: The Great Skills Upgrade

Par Colomban Monnier - Président du Conseil de gestion de la Fondation ENSM

We often speak about future-ready vessels, but what about the crews? The most advanced technology is also the one with the greatest margin of uncertainty¹. It is therefore worthless without skilled men and women to operate and govern it. The energy transition is creating an unprecedented demand for training and upskilling.

Around 33,000 seafarers will need specific training in new fuels by 2028². That is more than twice the total number of French merchant mariners, and this is only the beginning. The arrival of ammonia, methanol, hydrogen, high-voltage batteries, nuclear propulsion [Maritime Nuclear Power: A Technological Leap Toward “Zero Emissions”?], and complex wind-assisted systems [Wind Propulsion: Reinventing the Art of Navigation] is redefining the competency framework of the 21st-century seafarer.

A Maritime Technical Elite

These new fuels involve unprecedented risks: lethal toxicity in the case of ammonia, cryogenic and explosion risks for hydrogen. Managing such risks cannot be improvised. It will require advanced, rigorous, and certified training, not only to operate these systems, but also to build them in shipyards and maintain them.

For young professionals entering the field, this is an opportunity to stand out. Specializing now in these technologies means securing a position aboard the most modern and safest vessels. It also means building a technical skill set very different from that of the past: chemistry, advanced thermodynamics, automated systems. Tomorrow’s officer will be as much a manager of complex systems as a navigator. Yet at sea, technological mastery can never replace seamanship, it must complement it.

Training Engineering: A Sector in Motion

This skills revolution also creates opportunities ashore. Training centers, maritime academies (such as ENSM in France), and private companies face an immense need for instructional engineers, trainers, and researchers.

Everything must be designed: next-generation simulators, curricula, evaluation methods, audit and certification frameworks. In a study on autonomous ships (MASS), Lloyd’s Register emphasizes the evolving human role toward supervision. Learning to oversee automated systems, manage unexpected failures, and maintain situational awareness through screens, these are the compelling pedagogical challenges awaiting those who choose to teach and transmit knowledge.

A Pathway of Excellence

France, with its “Livre Bleu” strategy and structured maritime ecosystem, aims to lead in training for these transitions. For young graduates, whether seafarers or engineers, investing in this human capital is a winning strategy. The spirit of the crew must be strengthened by technological transition, not diminished by it. Reducing the maritime sector’s impact is a technical journey, but above all, it is a human one, one that requires new talent to shape its future.

[1]On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects (1958), Gilbert Simondon

[2] DNV Maritime Forecast 2025