Shipping industry warned of the safety risks of cutting seatime requirements for junior officers in International Shipping News 09/05/2026 A new briefing paper by the Maritime Professional Council of the UK warns that reducing mandatory seagoing service for Officer of the Watch (OOW) candidates risks weakening safety standards across the shipping industry at a time when regulators should be reinforcing competence, not diluting it. According to the Council, the decision at IMO sub-committee level to reduce required seatime for STCW II/1 candidates from 12 months to 9 months, with simulator training allowed to substitute for part of that period, represents a serious step in the wrong direction. The Council argues that shipboard experience is not an optional add-on to maritime education but the foundation on which judgement, situational awareness, resilience and safe watchkeeping are built. The briefing paper draws on the experience of master mariners and maritime educators within the Maritime Professional Council and relies heavily on a submission to IMO by The Nautical Institute. It argues that no convincing evidence has been produced to show that a reduction in sea service can be made without lowering safety margins for newly qualified officers who may soon find themselves alone on the bridge of large commercial vessels. While recognising that simulators are useful training tools, the Council says they cannot reproduce the accumulated effects of fatigue, the pressure of real accountability, the physical realities of shipboard life, or the gradual development of what generations of seafarers have described as a seaman’s eye. The paper warns that over-reliance on simulator time risks creating overconfidence without equivalent depth of experience. The Council is also concerned that key industry voices appear to have been largely absent from the debate. In particular, the paper highlights the lack of visible participation by insurers, P&I Clubs and classification so