AET chief delivers keynote at Singapore Branch of The Nautical Institute conference

A keynote on the theme ‘Seaworthiness and Seafarers in a Changing World’ was delivered by AET President and CEO Nick Potter at this year’s Annual Conference of the Singapore Branch of The Nautical Institute last week (20 August), as part of Singapore Safety@Sea Week 2026.

Mr Potter (pictured, second from left) addressed three main areas:

• Seafarer wellbeing: Seafarers increasingly transit regions shaped by geopolitical tension, conflict, piracy and security disruption. Noting the ISPS Code was implemented 22 years ago, Potter asked whether shipping has adapted to what is now an enduring maritime threat.

• Safety and mental wellbeing: AET views fatigue and error through a Human Performance lens, designing error-tolerant systems rather than relying on people as the safety barrier. He highlighted AET’s Care & Comply culture, the Generative Culture and Change programme, visible felt leadership, and fleet renewal choices that cut workload and fatigue. 

• Seafaring as a career: Future seaworthiness is ultimately a competence issue: safe ships require skilled, confident and well-trained seafarers, and that capability must be built years before someone becomes Master or Chief Engineer. Potter was clear that seafarers should never have to pay for the opportunity to work, and that fair, transparent, fee-free recruitment is a baseline of dignity and a foundation for trust and retention.

The industry’s responsibility, the AET President and CEO said, is not simply to make ships capable of surviving that world. “It is to make sure the people aboard them can thrive in it.”