On September 21, 2023, the Shanghai Crew Assessment Demonstration Center, the nation's first comprehensive crew professional examination and evaluation base jointly established by the Ministry of Transport and the Shanghai Municipal Government, officially commenced operations. Over the past three years, this national-level facility, rooted in Shanghai's Hongkou District, has steadily advanced toward three major construction goals: creating a national model base for crew examinations, building an internationally influential high-end maritime talent cultivation hub, and developing a nationally recognized base for promoting maritime culture and science. Through these efforts, it continuously supplies high-caliber maritime talent to support China's high-quality shipping development and the elevation of Shanghai's international shipping center capabilities.

Using Examinations as the Benchmark

As the first national-level crew examination venue to implement a "separation of training and examination" model, the fairness of assessments and the level of intelligent management directly determine the quality of talent selection and the trust of crews nationwide in the national examination system. Over three years, the Center has broken away from traditional examination venue design, leveraging technology and institutional safeguards to create a "six-dimensional" model venue that integrates intelligence, integrity, fairness, professionalism, convenience, and safety, providing a practical reference for nationwide crew examination reform. A self-developed comprehensive Shanghai crew assessment scoring management system enables full-task coordination and closed-loop process control, making routine examinations held weekly and full coverage monthly a reality.

"This is also the country's only crew makeup examination site, allowing many crew members from across the nation to complete retests in Shanghai without lengthy waiting or traveling," explained Bi Tao, Director of the Crew Examination Center at the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration. Data shows that over three years, the Center has organized 420 sessions of seafarer competency examinations, serving 21,507 candidates, including 314 sessions for social crew members, with out-of-town makeup candidates accounting for over 81% of the total. To address challenges such as complex regulations and unclear career pathways, the Center has built a crew regulation knowledge platform, consolidating over 200 current and effective regulations and mapping out 151 certificate types and 605 career advancement routes. This tool has been promoted across the national maritime system, helping crews clearly understand the intricate processes of certification, promotion, and license renewal.

Paperless and digital experiences are evident throughout the examination halls. Candidates can complete check-in and take exams with just their ID cards, making paper admission tickets a thing of the past. The halls are equipped with risk early-warning models that combine static screening of high-risk individuals with real-time behavioral monitoring, mitigating examination risks at both the pre-event and in-process stages. Notably, to reduce the costs of traveling for examinations, the Center has introduced flexible "agile seating," allowing candidates to independently select suitable test times through a "cinema-style booking" system, benefiting 3,303 crew members to date. For out-of-town candidates unfamiliar with the venue, an online virtual tour mini-program has been launched, enabling over 10,000 candidates to explore the examination environment remotely via their phones.

Fairness remains the unbreachable bottom line of examinations. The Center has issued management rules for assessors and examination implementation guidelines, promoted a "four-random" working method and a post-assessment review mechanism for practical exams, with strict enforcement of procedures such as random selection, group formation, and recusal. In the past, electronic cheating and organized fraud by black-market intermediaries were rampant in crew examinations. The Center collaborated with public security authorities to establish a complete chain for detection, transfer, and disposal, pursuing and cracking down on cheating rings. Three cheating cases were closed in a full loop, and the nation's first criminal case involving organized cheating in crew examinations was adjudicated in Shanghai, solidifying the national examination status of crew tests in judicial practice. A section chief at the Center noted that by 2025, the high incidence of electronic cheating has been fundamentally curbed, and the examination environment has been thoroughly transformed.

"Beyond safeguarding the examination gateway, the Center also shoulders the mission of pioneering talent assessment reform," said Xu Ying, Deputy Director of the Crew Examination Center at the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration. The national pilot for "comprehensive assessment of unlimited-ocean-area first-class captains and chief engineers" was first launched at the Center. Crew assessment now goes beyond single-subject evaluation, incorporating interview assessments and psychological aptitude observation, simulating real ship operating conditions to focus on testing captains' and chief engineers' emergency response, team management, and risk assessment capabilities. Four rounds of assessment have been successfully completed. The project team continuously gathers feedback from shipping companies and frontline crew members, refining the assessment process to accumulate Shanghai's experience for promoting the reform nationwide.

The assessor team has also undergone iterative upgrades. Over three years, maritime assessors have grown from over 60 to more than 180, with their participation rate in assessments rising from under 5% to over 60%, solving previous issues of inconsistent standards and scheduling difficulties caused by over-reliance on external personnel. Leveraging the "Sea-Star" Crew Assessment Innovation Studio, more than a dozen industry research projects have been completed, including the development of a crew precision profiling system and a standardized crew labeling framework, enabling data aggregation, risk prediction, and categorized management of crew information. This serves both frontline maritime supervision and provides quantitative references for industry policy-making and talent cultivation at academic institutions.

Industry-Academia Collaboration Builds a Talent Service Hub for the Nation

The concentration of high-end maritime talent forms a crucial foundation for Shanghai's international shipping center to enhance its core competitiveness. Over three years, the Center has adhered to an open and shared approach, connecting resources from enterprises, academic institutions, research organizations, and international maritime platforms. It simultaneously addresses the real needs of the shipping industry's transformation in talent cultivation while translating the principle of "crew first" into tangible livelihood initiatives, establishing a service system that balances industry development with crew satisfaction. Responding to major domestic shipping industry projects, the Center has proactively addressed the talent gap for domestic cruise ships, independently developing a digital training model for the first domestically built large cruise ship, the "Adora Magic City," and launching a special training cohort for the luxury cruise "Adora Huacheng," building a reserve of high-level crew for the domestic cruise industry. Training resources are open to shipping enterprises, with skill enhancement programs delivered to units such as the pilot station, COSCO Shipping Group, and Shanghai Zhenhua Shipping Co., Ltd., cumulatively training nearly 4,000 personnel.

As the shipping industry embraces a wave of green and low-carbon transformation, with methanol-fueled and dual-fuel vessels increasingly entering service, the market urgently needs crew members proficient in operating new-energy vessels. The Center has led the compilation of "Training Equipment Standards and Demonstration Courses for Methanol and Other New Energy Fuel Bunkering Simulators," filling a gap in domestic practical training standards. A dual-fuel bunkering simulator training base has been established, completing nearly 500 practical training sessions. A fast-track certification channel has also been introduced, shortening certificate issuance cycles and accelerating the growth of a credentialed green shipping workforce. Based at the North Bund International Shipping Hub, the Center has co-built the "North Bund International Crew Training Base," opening an international exchange window. Ghanaian pilots and crew members from Malaysia have participated in specialized simulation training there, and an International Maritime Organization "Train-the-Trainer" advanced seminar has visited for exchanges, promoting the internationalization of Chinese standards and enhancing China's voice in global maritime talent development.

For the countless crew members working at sea, attentive service forms an integral part of this endeavor. Ahead of China Maritime Day 2026, the nation's first "crew-friendly neighborhood" was officially unveiled. The neighborhood integrates local accommodation, dining, medical care, and cultural tourism resources, offering exclusive conveniences and discounts for crew members' food, lodging, and transportation. Service stations provide life assistance, employment guidance, and legal consultation, weaving training, certification, livelihood, and employment into a complete service loop while alleviating concerns for out-of-town candidates traveling to Shanghai. A dedicated crew consultation hotline, launched by the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration in June 2023, serves as a bridge connecting crews and maritime authorities. Hotline staff noted, "We insist on manual answering and first-call responsibility, having served over 10,000 crew members cumulatively and generated more than 20,000 work orders, with coverage extending to all 31 provinces and regions nationwide as well as overseas crew." Based on call feedback, the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration has introduced targeted convenience measures, using crews' urgent needs to drive service optimization.

A "crew station" for rest during examination waits welcomes crew members from across the country. A green channel for expedited seafarer certificate issuance and out-of-town certificate collection has handled over 1,100 expedited requests. Paper documentation for administrative handovers has been halved, and average certificate processing times remain consistently at half the statutory limit. As the country's sole seafarer certificate production center, it issues nearly 100,000 seafarer certificates annually. "While routinely fulfilling national seafarer certificate production duties, we have resolved historical issues such as data security and certificate disposal from the source, genuinely safeguarding every step of seafarers' professional journeys nationwide," said Ge Xiaoxuan, Deputy Director of the Crew Examination Center.

Nurturing Maritime Culture: From Deep Blue to the Public

Maritime endeavors extend beyond voyaging the oceans; they involve sharing the stories of the blue ocean with a wider audience. Situated in Hongkou, a district with profound shipping heritage, the Center transcends its examination and training role, incorporating maritime culture dissemination and ocean awareness promotion into its agenda to bring the maritime spirit to more of the public. The crew culture corridor and the "Blue Territory, Red Course" ideological and scientific education exhibition hall are open year-round, with high-end maritime simulators and ship main and auxiliary engines repurposed as educational teaching aids. A lecture team comprising industry experts, maritime craftsmen, and key business personnel provides customized scientific explanations for youth, the general public, and industry practitioners. The Center collaborates with surrounding neighborhoods, schools, and enterprises on joint activities, earning accolades such as "National Maritime Science Education Base," "Science Station," and "New Era Civilization Practice Site." The "Future Navigator" cultural brand is gradually taking shape, with science picture books, themed murals, short videos, and cultural merchandise being launched, and brand logos and study passports completing copyright registration. A combination of online livestreaming and offline lectures breaks geographical barriers, with active participation in national-level events like "National Science Month," attracting domestic and international study groups such as the Zhejiang Maritime Summer Camp and the Copenhagen Business School International Summer Camp, extending maritime cultural influence from coastal regions inland and from Shanghai to the international stage.

For science education, the Center has developed a tiered research study system balancing fun and professionalism. Interactive experiences such as sextant celestial positioning and maritime chess, along with premium courses like "Masters Talk Maritime" and "Future Navigator One-Day Camp," transform complex maritime knowledge into participatory public activities. Partnering with resources like the "Haixun 01" vessel and the China Maritime Museum for practical activities, the Center has held 45 themed science events, with over 3,000 youth and ordinary citizens participating in research studies, turning a professional crew assessment base into a window of marine science outreach for society.

Where ambition reaches, no distance is insurmountable; even across mountains and seas, one presses forward with determination. Standing at a new starting point for serving the strategies of building a maritime power and a transportation powerhouse, and facing the era's tests of global shipping governance transformation and industry green low-carbon transition, the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration will continue to deepen crew team development. It strives to build the Center into a source of innovation in maritime talent assessment, a pioneering zone for cultivating high-end shipping talent, and a window for maritime cultural value leadership, continuing to write a new chapter of endeavoring toward the ocean in the process of serving national strategies and the construction of Shanghai's international shipping center.