Preparing maritime professionals for their future roles in a digitalized era: bridging the blockchain skills gap in maritime education and training

Blockchain technology has made headway into the global maritime industry. Touted as a disruptive technology, blockchains have the potential to drastically change business models leading to risks of job displacements given obsolete skills and talent for blockchain adoption. Our research shows that the global maritime industry is facing challenges with the leap in blockchain development and implementation, thus emphasizing the increasing need for appropriate qualification and upskilling through revamped MET regimes. Implications of digitalization on conventional MET is mostly preliminary in academic research, especially with regard to the blockchain phenomena. For this purpose, this paper aims to shed light on the implications of blockchain disruption in the maritime industry accelerating required changes in conventional MET approaches - mainly utilizing a case study methodology alongside semi-structured in-depth interviews as key elements of this exploratory qualitative research study. Our findings show the transformative potential of blockchains in the maritime landscape alongside technical barriers indicating complexities inherent with adoption. Lastly, we propose an infographic design framework to facilitate changes in MET methodologies among higher education institutions.