Thetius and Maritime Passport Report Calls for Digital Credentials for Seafarers
Cubierto por 3 fuentesPublicado
- Ship managment internationalNew report highlights need for trusted digital seafarer credentials
- Hellenics Shipping newsNew Report Exposes Critical Need For Trusted Digital Seafarer Credentials
- Marine insightNew Report Urges Shipping To Replace Paper Certificates With Digital Seafarer IDs To Prevent Fraud
Thetius and Maritime Passport published a report titled 'Securing Trust: The Transition to Digital Seafarer Credentials', warning that the shipping industry's reliance on paper certificates and disconnected digital copies creates operational, security and administrative risks for seafarers worldwide.
The document notes that some 2.57 million seafarers serve aboard more than 85,000 merchant vessels, and that many still have to carry physical copies of certificates weighing up to four kilograms. According to the report, converting these documents into unstructured PDFs or isolated digital portals does not solve the verification problem, which is why a globally interoperable trust framework is needed—one that does not add further workload for the various stakeholders, particularly seafarers.
Statements from the co-founders
Martin White, co-founder of Maritime Passport, stated that advances in digital identity, biometrics and secure credentials make the transition to digital verification possible, but noted that they also raise questions about legitimacy, governance, interoperability and adoption. Peter Phillips, also a co-founder of Maritime Passport, said that moving from paper to digital means safeguarding each seafarer's identity, qualifications and livelihood, while protecting sensitive personal information, and that digital credentials must reinforce the issuing authority and give confidence to employers and inspectors.
Key findings
The report details that verifying a single seafarer's credentials can take between one and two hours for crewing teams, and that preparing documents for port calls takes an average of 191 minutes, with 64% of cases still relying on paper or a combination of paper and digital formats. It also warns about the vulnerability of physical certificates to loss or damage, fraud risks from forged or altered documents and from revoked or expired certificates still in circulation, and data privacy risks linked to the transmission and indefinite storage of scanned copies of passports and qualification records. It further highlights growing regulatory momentum, with amendments to the STCW Convention in force since January 2025 that include electronic formats within the definition of 'original form', and with the IMO's Strategy on Maritime Digitalization approved at FAL 50.
Recommendations for adoption
Among its recommendations, the report proposes establishing common rules among international bodies and flag States on the validity, verification, data protection and dispute resolution of digital credentials; designing a phased transition that allows paper, digital copies and digitally native credentials to coexist; prioritizing interoperability through open standards that avoid reliance on a single vendor; and supporting administrations with fewer resources to prevent a digital divide within the maritime workforce.
Presentation of the report
The report's findings will be discussed by a panel of experts in a launch webinar scheduled for October 28 at 9:00 GMT, with registration available through the link shared by the organizers.
