On 6^th – 7^th  June 2024, the National University “Odessa Maritime Academy” (NUOMA) hosted the 9^th International Forum on Seafarers’ Education, Training and Crewing – 2024, which this year was dedicated to the 80^th  Anniversary of NUOMA. The forum was attended by over 100 delegates. Among the delegates were representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine, as well as managers and representatives of the maritime industry, shipping and crewing companies, maritime educational institutions and maritime training centres. The general partner of the forum was the MSC Shipmanagement company, the general partner of the conference, the Wӓrtsilӓ company, presented an exhibition stand for the demonstration of the latest developments of ship simulators, the general partner of the reception of the forum was the Marine Transport Workers’ Trade Union of Ukraine.

The event was held in a mixed format: both with the physical presence of delegates and online. Most of the delegates were present in the conference room. Unfortunately, due to the martial law in Ukraine, foreign delegates took part in the conference only online. The delegates were greeted by: Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mikhail Wynnyckyj, Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Chairman of the NUOMA Supervisory Board Yurii Vaskov, Executive Director of MSC Shipmanagement Prabhat Kumar Jha, Executive Director of the International Association of Maritime Universities Professor Takeshi Nakazawa, Executive Director of the Nautical Institute (Great Britain) Captain John Lloyd. The greetings of the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Oksen Lesnyi and the Chairman of the Danube Commission Lyubov Nepop were also read out.

The reports were made by the Rector of NUOMA Mykhaylo Miyusov, Chairman of the International Association GlobalMET Capt. Pradeep Chawla, ex-Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), Executive Director of MyNavix OÜ, Capt. Markku Mylly, Deputy Chairman of the State Service for Maritime, Inland Waterway Transport and Shipping of Ukraine (the Shipping Administration) Sergiy Maksimov, Chairman of the ITF Seafarers` Foundation Trust Katie Higginbottom, expert on sales of marine simulators of Wartsila Voyage (Finland) Sander Klasse, Vice-rector of NUOMA Vadym Zakharchenko, program manager of LearnMarine Alexander Pipchenko.

The forum consisted of two sessions, the first of which was devoted to the discussion of modern trends and the human factor in shipping, the second raised the topics of new technologies and the development of the national system of maritime education and practical training. During each of the sessions, panel discussions were held on the relevant topic.

Presentations of speakers will be posted on the forum website www.etc-odessa.com