MISSION to Seafarers secretary-general Peter Rouch says the human factor will continue to be crucial in maritime safety, even as we enter a new age of technology.
Addressing the Safe Ships, Safe Ports Forum, Dr Rouch told the gathering the human element in maritime was "foundational".
“Within the maritime industry, a certain truth is impossible to ignore. Ships, ports, cargo and the long-term sustainability of this industry are inextricably linked to the well-being and the functioning of the people aboard,” he said.
Dr Rouch said figures from Lloyd’s Register showed 85% of maritime claims continued to involve human factors as contributing causes.
“The statistics remain telling… This is with technology that we know like the back of our hands. It is not about casual negligence, but crew who are pressured, fatigued and at times stressed,” he said.
“The human element is neither abstract nor replaceable, it is foundational.”
Despite human beings having capacity for flexibility and adaptability under pressure, it was “all too easy to presume that that elasticity of response has no limit”.
“Unlike a component of machinery, seafarers are shaped by tens of thousands of years of evolutionary and cultural formation,” Dr Rouch said.
“They are formed to flourish in relational contexts, that contemporary seafaring places in question.”
They are flesh, they are blood and their lives and their choices and wellbeing may ultimately define the real margin between safety and sustainability on the one hand and catastrophe on the other.”
While acknowledging the potential of AI, Dr Rouch said it needed to be deployed to amplify people’s strengths rather than weaknesses.
The 2025 Safe Ships Safe Ports Forum was organised by Pilbara Ports and was held at Optus Stadium in Perth.