Maritime training resources have consolidated dramatically in recent years with many brands being bought out, limiting choice for shipmanagers and shipowners.
Keen to democratise the process and eyeing a space in the ‘new normal’ for training in the post-Covid era, a Swedish start-up, Seably, owned by the Swedish Shipping Association, has launched today as a new online learning community.
The creators of Seably claim anyone can explore, take, or even teach a course.
At launch, the market place contains flag state-approved STCW courses, legislation typed training, introduction courses, reflective learning, and how-to courses. To broaden this further, Seably is now starting collaborations with industry professionals, training centers, subcontractors, oil companies, insurance companies, and maritime universities around the world.
Tomas Lindberg, Seably’s CEO, tells Maritime CEO that he reckons it’s time for companies to stop building training in silos and start sharing the knowledge and collaborate within the industry.
When teaching on Seably, people will be able to grow their online following, give back to the industry, and earn money through a shared royalty pool with monthly payouts.
Mobile apps for iOS and Android have launched from the start. The apps use the same techniques as Spotify and Netflix where seafarers can download courses locally on their mobile device, and complete training without an internet connection.
Shipping companies will be offered a subscription service called Seably for Business, where their employees can access the entire content of the marketplace, and build their own company-specific training. Pricing starts from $4 per employee and month.
“Our offering will create a business model for a broader range of contributors, which will create a more extensive range of courses and add more creativity and variety to the market,” Lindberg maintains.
On the software side, Lindberg argues Seably claims it is very different from the competition.
“We take advantage of the digitalisation and we think it’s crucial to provide great software that solves the end-users problems, not just focused on solving the challenges of a business model or a course matrix,” the Swede explains.
The product roadmap is long, the CEO says, and a lot of new features are on the drawing table.
Next up are tools for in-depth statistics and reports, course assignments, and support for iPad and Android tablets.
This training is as democratic as any flag of convenience.
I understand that, more than democratize, it points to popularize training… cause teaching and learning are not subject of polling or voting.