"PEOPLE ARE OUR GREATEST ASSET" — PROVE IT!

*A Mare Forum webinar on the human capital crisis in shipping*

"People are our greatest asset. Prove it!"

Shipping has said this for fifty years. Meanwhile, officers are leaving, cadet berths are shrinking, and the fuels of 2030 will be handled by crews trained for 1995.

MARE FORUM continues its successful online roundtable series with bold discussions and debates that challenge myths and taboos.

THE PANELLISTS:

- Phrixos Papachristidis, Chief Executive Officer, Hellespont Group [Moderator]
- Antonios Faraklas, Managing Director, Chartworld Shipping Corporation
- Dan Jespersen, Managing Director, 7C Shipping Ltd.
- Sinem Sen, Sales Manager, Alphaliner, EMEA, AXSMarine
- Daniel Jone, Partner, Noorden Jone
- Isabel Grimpe, Managing Director, Grimpe RelationShip Management GmbH
- More to be announced, stay tuned

AGENDA - TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED

This online roundtable brings together leading experts and bright minds of the maritime industry to cut through the clichés and confront the questions that matter:

• "Talent shortage": is it a recruitment problem, a retention problem, or a fundamental failure to make seafaring a credible 21st-century career?

• What is the Sense and what is the Nonsense About Seafaring and Talent in Shipping

• Many talk about “maritime heritage” (and exploring the world), but does talent actually care about heritage, or only about pay, lifestyle, and prestige?

• There is no seafarer shortage. Is there a shortage of owners willing to pay for seafarers?

• Does this industry spend more on ammonia feasibility studies than on training the people who will handle ammonia?

• Do European maritime industries have an actual plan to compete for talent, or just nostalgia and a job fair?

• Diversity: is the industry pursuing it because it's right, or because an all-male, mono-national officer corps is simply bad for business, and if you can't answer that cleanly, what does that tell you?

• Automation is cutting crews, solving the shortage, or killing the experience that keeps ships safe?

• Are academies training officers for real ships, or museum pieces?

• Who's actually going to run the ships of tomorrow?

• Mental health at sea: real change, or good or reputational management that stops short of structural change?

• Is Diversity in this industry more photograph than policy?

• Your top graduate has offers from Google, Goldman Sachs, and a bulk carrier. Can you sell them shipping — in one sentence?

• What does the next generation actually want — and is anyone listening?

• Pay, purpose, or prestige: what's the real trade young talent is making?

• If shipping can't answer that, why would they ever choose it?

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No predictable talks, no monologues, no spin. Just the debate the industry needs to have.

NEXT EVENT:

25th MARE FORUM SHIPFINANCE 2026 - Thursday 12 November, Rotterdam, Haven Hotel
https://www.mareforum.com/events/25th-mare-forum-shipfinance-2026
Be there!