Abstract:

Maritime education is given in accordance with the Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping Standards of Seafarers (STCW) around the world. These standards provide seafarers with the necessary licenses and certificates to work on board but their operational performance depends on their personal characteristics and qualifications. In order to minimize personnel-induced risks and related costs while at the same time enhancing operational efficiency, it is essential to choose personnel whose qualifications best match the ship/cargo type. There are many officers of the watch (OOW) with different qualifications and educational histories in the maritime sector. Choosing the most suitable among these OOWs specific to the ship/cargo is more difficult than the selection of masters. In the light of this, this study focuses on an appropriate selection process of OOWs and aims to identify the predominant selection criteria according to two main types of vessel: tankers and general cargo ships. The priorities of selection criteria based on the type of vessel are outlined for employing the OOW. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to determine the relative weights of OOW selection criteria. The study concludes that the global relative weight distributions of criteria for tankers and general cargo ships are quite different from each other, except for experience. It is thought that the criteria determined will provide companies with a more accurate evaluation advantage in the selection of OOWs.

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