Nation on track to support strategic maritime skills – 29th June 2026
Maritime Industry Australia Ltd (MIAL), the national shipping industry peak body has welcomes today’s announcement of the successful participants in the federal government’s Maritime Skills and Training Initiative (MSTI) which will see up to $13.8 million in funding directed to the training of 20 Australian seafarers per year over 4 years.
MIAL CEO, Angela Gillham said: “Australia is a major maritime nation but, as has been frequently documented, we suffer from a serious case of ‘sea blindness’ that is harmful to the national interest. “As a result, we are unique among maritime nations in that we have no centralised mechanism for coordination and funding of maritime training – globally, obtaining highly specialised skills in the international shipping industry is a costly process governed by international law, which is why strong government intervention and industry coordination is almost universal. This is a strategically important skillset that is essential to the economic wellbeing and national security of an island nation that is critically dependent on shipping – but we have been left wanting with an unprecedented maritime skills crisis”
Ms Gillham said “While modest in scale, the MSTI program is an important step forward in building our sovereign maritime capability and represents a critical mindset shift in the national interest.”
MSTI funding will help seafaring trainees to access berths on large commercial ships to ensure they can accumulate the required ‘sea time’ (on the job training) to obtain their initial certificate of competency to join the Australian seafaring workforce and progress to more highly skilled and complex roles.
“MIAL is dedicating significant effort and resources to advocacy on strategic maritime skills development in Australia with a vision to reform maritime training for the collective interest of the industry and in the national interest of Australia. We congratulate MIAL members Teekay, Boluda and Sea Swift as well as Siera Marine and METL on their success in being awarded funding as part of the MSTI program.” Ms Gillham said.
