Communication became easier, and very easy after satellite
communication became involved, and Facsimile and E-mail became available. Ship's
administration, a task often performed by the radio officer, can be done in a cheaper way,
i.e. less expensive personnel on board or on shore. The traditional use of radio equipment
was forbidden in the harbor, until TOR and E-mail made communication possible, at any
place and any time.
Several navigational aids became available, including instrumentation
which gave warning signals if no action was taken or response was given. Containerization
has put planning, working and loading/unloading responsibilities on shore.
Computerprograms are used to check the important parameters, involved with the safety of
the ship, and that almost immediately.
Crew redundancy became inevitable when the shipowner wanted his
investments back, in equipment bought for automation. But what to do with this redundancy?
On the other hand: was it useful or even possible to put an engineer, available during the
night, on a bridge watch, and was it useful to put a mate in the engineroom when they were
short of hands during maintenance in ports or long ocean crossings? Was it possible to
train every one, deck officers and engineers, in Maritime Communication?
After some time experiments were started, first by training in the
lowest rank of the counter discipline, later complete integrated.
'Mastering' the ship became a technological subject. As soon as the
remote control handle was touched, one was expected to have knowledge of that what was
connected at the other end.
5 The Educational Shock
Some remarks from point 4 also apply to Educational Institutions and
their staff. Traditional subjects, for a long time the field of specialists related to a
certain professional profile, became accessible to outsiders and, even more threatening:
they vented a strong opinion for the need of change. Peer review, although not always very
openly accepted, became inevitable and necessary.
