Learn more about the Work Programme and the COP30 Action Agenda. Read here.
Parts of this site were translated using AI. Accuracy may vary.
Learn more about the Work Programme and the COP30 Action Agenda. Read here.
Parts of this site were translated using AI. Accuracy may vary.
On behalf of joint organisers, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, Maritime Just Transition Task Force and the Climate Champions Team (CCT), we are delighted to invite you to participate in a webinar titled "Rethinking sea time in Africa" on September 9, 2025, at 11am GMT.
With the approval by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of the IMO Net-Zero Framework, the importance of the seafarer in this transition cannot be overemphasized. This is because the seafarers who must operate the ships that will be using new alternative fuels and technologies e.g. hydrogen, ammonia, batteries, etc. must have the required skills to be able to do so safely.
The Maritime Just Transition Task Force (MJTTF) was set up during COP 26 in Glasgow as the first global cross-sectoral task force dedicated to strengthening and coordinating collaboration between governments, industry, workers, and academia for a safe, equitable and human-centred transition towards a decarbonized shipping industry. In its ‘10-point Action Plan to Achieve a Just Transition for Seafarers’, the MJTTF highlights the importance of a diverse workforce – one which includes persons from a wide range of geographical locations and ethnic backgrounds - to improve performance onboard and manage risk in the transition and beyond.
For African seafarers, the challenge of shipping’s energy transition is compounded by systemic barriers, including limited fleet ownership, high training costs, and inadequate access to cutting-edge technologies. Having identified the need to address the just transition from a regional perspective, in August 2024, the Regional Maritime University (RMU), the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI) and the Climate Champions Team convened African stakeholders in the training, certification, employment and welfare of seafarers to discuss how to achieve a just transition - as fair and inclusive as possible and ensuring decent work opportunities - for all African seafarers. The event culminated in a Call to Action which urged concrete action to tackle, among other things, the urgent need for sea time opportunities for African cadets and trainee officers.
This call was repeated by participants at the Regional Workshop on Implementation of the 2023 IMO GHG Strategy and the Green Transition of Shipping in Africa that was held in February 2025. The conference, which was hosted by the Republic of Kenya and jointly supported by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Danish Maritime Authority (DMA), highlighted the challenges that African cadets faced in meeting the requirements of mandatory time onboard per the relevant international legal instruments.
At the same time, there are indications of growing global demand for qualified seafarers from 2026. Africa’s growing youthful population makes the continent best placed to seize this opportunity and offer a sustainable supply of qualified seafarers for the global maritime industry. However, this potential will not be realised if the continent’s cadets are unable to secure training berths on board ships to gain the practical sea experience required to achieve their certification under the relevant international regulations.
There is therefore an urgent need to address the problem, and it is for this reason that the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the Maritime Just Transition Taskforce and the Climate Champions Team propose to jointly organise a hybrid event to rethink sea time in Africa.
Objectives
Assess the scale of the challenge, quantifying the number of cadets in search of sea time opportunities.
Understand the factors that have contributed to the limited trainee berths available to African cadets.
Discuss proposals and solutions to overcome these challenges.
Learn from best practices and success stories from other regions.
Outcomes
A playbook of recommendations for shipowners, African policymakers, and maritime education institutions and the Africa-based workforce to encourage and incentivise the proliferation of sea time opportunities for the continent in the global competitive market.
Establish a framework for future regional stakeholder engagements on the just transition, including on sea time for cadets and trainee officers.
Launch a campaign to secure sea time placements for at least 30 African cadets between now and COP30 and announce the results in Belem in November 2025.
Launch of at least two (2) national Cadet Training Schemes at the Singapore Maritime Week in April 2026.
Stakeholders to be invited
Multinational shipping companies with a strong presence in Africa, shipowner associations, African maritime administrations, classification societies, flag states, African maritime education and training institutions, seafarer unions, cadets.
