Peter Döhle is one of the world’s largest shipping companies headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, with numerous offices, subsidiaries, and partner companies located worldwide. With up to 460 vessels on the sea at any one time, managing training and development is a huge task.
They needed to overhaul their training management systems to save time and money whilst making sure that the training was being delivered when and where it was needed most.
Rainer Starke, Training Manager, “Our goal was to establish a solution which was easy to implement and offered a wide variety of training.”
The Challenge
- Peter Döhle was using a number of training providers and learning platforms which was both time-consuming and costly.
- Keeping on top of the data and records was challenging and mistakes could be made with data or mislaying certifications.
- Many of the courses, management systems and technology being used by current providers were out of date and not being utilised by seafarers.
- Finding a training program that could integrate with Lloyd's Register’s Cloud Fleet Management system (CFM) and meet strict security protocol.
- Finding a provider that had fully downloadable courses to address issues with connectivity at sea without having to put hardware onboard.
- Keeping one step ahead of regulation changes and making sure training is always up to date.
- Engaging and supporting seafarers, to not only gain essential certifications but to progress on their career pathway.
Mr Holger Egener, Head of HR, “Every seafarer has a smartphone, we want it to be easy to reach out and bring training to their attention, at sea or on shore.”
Rainer Starke, Training Manager, “When we came across Seably, we were attracted to its unique approach…”
The Solution
- A digital training platform that has downloadable courses so seafarers can use it anytime, anywhere.
- A simple and intuitive management system that makes assigning courses and monitoring certifications straightforward.
- The ability to ‘test’ the system with captains on a number of vessels to ensure suitability before rolling out to the whole fleet.
- A cloud-based solution that does not need the installation of any additional software or hardware and has fully aligned security protocols.
- Courses that cover essential certifications, personnel skills and wellbeing, as well as other areas of interest to seafarers.
- Courses that are accessible and take health and safety into consideration throughout training.
- The ability for Masters to be able to assign courses whilst at sea to immediately address any specific training requirement or an area of need.
Mr Holger Egener, Head of HR, “The idea that our seafarers have up-to-the-minute training in their pockets and can skill check wherever they are is a big selling point for us.”
Rainer Starke, Training Manager, “We asked a number of our captains to trial it ‘undercover’. They logged in as normal users and provided us with very good positive feedback.”
Results
- In the trial over 347 seafarers followed their individual training plans and explored some of the other 560+ courses on the platform.
- Skills gaps have been identified onshore or onboard and immediately addressed through assigning courses.
- Seafarers have been prompted to get to work on any essential courses and certifications they need to update as soon as they are assigned a vessel on shore.
- It has been used for soft skills training at sea, addressing important and challenging crew issues on board such as diversity and inclusion.
- Seably has worked with Lloyd’s Register’s Cloud Fleet Manager (CFM) to create an API between the systems to save time and improve the reliability of data and allow automatic enrolment for seafarers onto the platform.
- Seably has recruited a customer service manager in the Philippines to ensure 24-hour support for the clients and seafarers in Asia.
- Seably are supporting the team at Peter Döhle to market the learning platform to seafarers to ensure they know how to download courses when they have Wi-Fi.
Rainer Starke, Training Manager, “Every training course is delivered by a specialist and often delivered by more than one training provider. We can choose which one best suits our audience so even repetitive training is never boring. We hope this will improve retention within our seafaring community.”
Mr Holger Egener, Head of HR,“The maritime sector is changing quickly and Seably keeps up, moving with technology, growing and innovating with a willingness to meet our criteria and be the best in the business.”
To find out how Seably can help your business meet its training goals contact tomas@seably.com.
