Every ship that sails well was made ready by someone who never left the office. Much of what keeps a fleet steady sits in the judgement and memory of the people ashore.

That knowledge takes years to build and very little time to lose. A seasoned leader who steps away with no one ready to follow can leave a gap that is felt on board long after.

Leaders who grow their successors on purpose give their fleets a far better chance of carrying that knowledge forward.

The global fleet runs on about 2.5 million seafarers across more than 85,100 vessels, and BIMCO estimates the industry is short of about 39,100 certified officers. Most talk about that gap stays at sea, on cadet berths, wages and retention on board. Far less attention goes to the office where every one of those officers is recruited, certified, scheduled and supported.

That blind spot is costly. A port state control officer who finds an expired endorsement can hold a ship within an hour. The vessel carries the detention on its record, but the failure began months earlier at a desk ashore. Mary Joy C. Dela Cruz, Deputy Managing Director at OSM Thome, said one such detention could easily become a six-figure bill, and that most could be prevented.

The shortage ashore grows out of the shortage at sea. Managers tend to fill senior office roles with former masters and chief engineers, the same people the fleet already lacks. A 2025 Faststream survey found only 70% of respondents believed their company had an active and clear succession plan, while 9% of senior executives plan to retire next year. When a crewing head leaves without a successor, years of working knowledge can leave too.

What makes OSM Thome’s approach worth studying is how ordinary it is. A nine-box grid, a succession template and an annual review of team make-up are standard tools. The difference is that each is fixed to a date in the company’s calendar, so it happens as routine and not in a crisis. Its rule of fixing a process before buying software produced a result any manager would want: seafarer forms cut from 15 to five.

The same thinking applies to digital projects. Crew management platforms and certificate trackers work only as well as the routines and people behind them.

Owners who judge their managers on vessel performance alone are seeing half the picture. Detention records, crew retention and compliance all begin with the shore team. Its capacity, staffing and succession deserve the same scrutiny boards give the fleet itself.

Our Thoughts on the Digital Ship Summit AI & Automation Panel

Trust, not technology, is the biggest constraint on AI in shipping. At Digital Ship Summit 2026 in Athens, Insight and SmartSea joined the AI & Automation panel to debate whether shipping can scale AI safely without clear standards. Our takeaways; human oversight, transparent decision logic and control of your own data matter most. Standards and regulation are still catching up, so your own governance is the practical safeguard for now. Start small, use your own data, and judge results by the evidence to build confidence. AI scales when the organisation shares a clear business goal and equips its people to deliver it. Thank you to our fellow panellists and to everyone who joined the conversation. Where should your organisation focus next: clearer direction, better collaboration or greater confidence in using AI? 

Want the full reflections? Watch the panel here.

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