In a recent Inmarsat Maritime survey, the largest share of respondents identified artificial intelligence as the technology that would have the greatest impact on ship operations by 2035, while over half thought at least 25% of daily manual tasks would be made redundant in the same time frame. In the views of just under three-quarters of poll participants, the knock-on effect of this AI-driven automation would be a decline of at least 10% in crew numbers over the next decade.

However, according to Eric Griffin, Vice President Offshore Energy, Inmarsat Maritime, automation should remove administrative burden – not people.

Addressing an audience at the October 2025 Offshore Support Journal Conference, Americas in Brazil, Griffin said: “Free up skilled people to focus on the judgement calls – coordination, exception handling, recovery – where human expertise earns its margin. That is what ‘human in the loop’ really means: people do the parts that matter most; systems make those parts easier.”

If seafarers are to excel in an increasingly automated offshore industry, enhanced training will be essential: almost 80% of respondents to Inmarsat’s survey predicted that at least half of shipboard personnel would have to reskill or upskill to adapt to new technologies by 2035.

Insights from a recent Inmarsat roundtable tell a similar story. Held to coincide with the OSJ Conference in Brazil, the session raised the issue of training gaps in the offshore sector, which, operators reported, have seen digital systems aboard offshore support vessels (OSVs) being underutilised by up to 90%.

Participants in the session also raised concerns about the growing risk of cyber-attacks, echoing the results of Inmarsat’s survey, in which half of respondents – comfortably the largest share – deemed cyber-security threats the greatest safety issue arising from vessel automation.

Another challenge highlighted by roundtable participants was the recruitment and retention of seafarers qualified to handle new technologies.

While overcoming these concerns will rely on a combination of factors, connectivity can play an important role in facilitating the offshore sector’s adaptation to automated processes.

“Connectivity is the enabler helping deliver training, simulations, and resources even in remote or high-latency environments,” Griffin explained. “At the same time, more and more efforts are rightfully focusing on crew welfare, which is becoming a big factor in retention and safety. Telemedicine, access to health support, and the chance to speak to family improve morale.”

Despite being “the path through which risks can enter”, connectivity is also the “foundation for defence”, allowing “real-time monitoring and coordinated response across vessels and shore”, added Griffin.

For OSV operators to reap the rewards of the sector’s advancing automation, the objective should not be to replace human expertise. Instead, operators should support and nurture those skills by providing seafarers with the tools to thrive in a changing environment.