The Transitional Role of Seafarers to Autonomous Shipping: A Research Agenda

The continual progression of Industry 4.0 adoption across industries has already begun impacting many facets of maritime transport and logistics. The result of digital transformation in shipping has and will result in a series of disruptive changes to ship design, operations, manning, and automation that collectively aim to enhance safety, efficiency, and the environmental sustainability of shipping. Likewise, autonomous shipping is considered a potential solution for future challenges by utilising digital technologies on a large scale in the maritime domain. While there is growing research interest in these areas, examining the role of the human element in the new smart shipping context is largely neglected and needs to be developed. This paper aims to explore the multi-dimensional impact of autonomous shipping technology resulting from the application of Industry 4.0 on seafarers through a systematic literature review. The impacts include the changing role of seafarers on-board, the potential changes to their training and development of new capabilities, careers, and the strategies required to engage seafarers in their transition from traditional shipping to autonomous shipping. The paper concludes with a research agenda to assist in providing a focus on the future research of autonomous shipping through the lens of the human element by highlighting several gaps including the roles, responsibilities, and characteristics of future seafarers and the new requirements for trainers and teaching content and technology in maritime education and training institutions.