In his time within Malta’s maritime industry, MaritimeMT’s Principal, Master Mariner Edwin Vella has seen the sector change significantly.
Locally, for example, he’s seen the country come to host one of the largest vessel registers in the world, and the largest for super-yachts.
Back when he was getting his maritime education, he reflects, there wasn’t even a certification that addressed superyachts, or any significant teaching on the superyacht sector locally.
Since then, he and his peers in the industry have acknowledged that things need to change and working with his colleagues at leading maritime school MaritimeMT, he has helped drive this change, urging and working with the authorities, introducing new certificates, study areas, and departments.
“I believe if we don’t adapt and evolve, not just as a school, but as an industry, we will find ourselves at a standstill ,” he says.
Capt Vella makes the prediction while sitting down with WhosWho.mt to discuss his career so far, the maritime industry generally, and his role in educating the next generation of maritime professionals.
He entered the industry at a young age, embarking on a one-year cadetship, leaving Malta for a year at the tender age of 17, without much of a plan about where he was going.
Being away though, he says, did not bother him too much, due to his adventurous nature. The main problem was that he missed his family.
“Ending up alone at only 17 years old, not knowing anyone is hard,” he admits, but he got through it, and gained his licence, then shortly after his first job on a container vessel.
He then moved on to research vessels, working on archaeological projects, searching for wreckages in the Mediterranean.
Soon after he started, he was promoted to Captain, which he found to be “quite the surprise,” at under 20 years old, he was considered young for the role.
He stayed in this role for around eight years, before going back to study, part time, where he achieved the level of Chief Mate, before going for the Master Unlimited, meaning he can now captain practically any type of vessel in whichever location he desires.
During his time as a cadet, Capt Vella reflects that he worked with a captain who admitted that his biggest regret was being away from his kids months at a time.
This meant sacrificing his relationship with them, or rather lack thereof.
The sorrow in his captain’s eyes was something Capt Vella says he never forgot, and he vowed to himself that when his time came, he would be present in his kids' lives. Seven years later, with the birth of his first child, he kept to his word.
He has three children now, and asked whether he would be encouraging them to follow along the path he followed, he smiles at the prospect, but says: “There’s two sides of this. Because if I teach my kids to go to sea, I’ll have to lose them for some time, because they’ll have to travel.
“On the other hand, my experience was a good one, and it was a major thing for me to leave my home and my comfort zone. We’ll see what they decide, but if they choose to follow that path, I’ll obviously be giving them quite a few lessons – though they’ll still need to go to school.”
Capt Vella’s relationship with MaritimeMT goes back some time, and he used to contribute to courses as a guest lecturer.
He explains he has always enjoyed the education side of the industry, taking pride in helping shipmates learn new things on board.
He also noted that the existing educational offering left something to be desired: “Back then, there was only one school, and the industry was not as mature as one might hope.”
In his current position, he is perfectly placed to continue driving positive change.
One of his main roles is to oversee the academics of the school, including course development, adjustments, and the introduction of new courses, when appropriate.
For example, he explains: “we’ve introduced the first course in the engineering departments and are planning to introduce the whole engineering route into the maritime industry in Malta.”
Aside from the academic side of things, business development is also in his remit.
He coordinates with the school’s CEO Pauline Micallef on an almost daily basis, where they discuss business targets and performance.
Naturally, these are demanding responsibilities, which require him to spend significant time in the office, on shore, but he also makes sure to stay in touch with the maritime industry, as “if you just stay in the office, you tend to forget certain things.”
As such, when he has the opportunity to embark on briefer trips of a couple of days, for example yacht deliveries, he’ll take it up, if time allows
While he personally enjoys going to sea, Capt Vella is keen to point out that the maritime industry does not only offer opportunities at sea. Indeed, there is strong demand for staff at MaritimeMT, and he reports that the school sometimes struggles to ensure it has the required staff to join its ever-growing team – whether on a part or full time basis.
“There are opportunities ashore, aside from the educational sector. For example, there are ship agents, crew management companies, ship management companies, and considering the size of Malta’s ship registry, there are a lot of local law firms specialising in the ship registration process and related services.”
Discussing the most notorious shipping incident of the year – the blocking of the Suez Canal by a cargo superliner, he emphasises that the incident shows just how important education and continuous quality training is, and what it can offer.
“The ship could have gotten stuck due to a number of variables. It could have been something as simple as communication, or on the other hand, the ability of the crew and/or pilot to compensate for the environmental factors. These are things we train our students in, and that are sometimes taken for granted.”
Reflecting further on the incident, he described it as “a big eye opener,” showing just how much the world relies on ships, and the importance of good training to avoid incidents and accidents leading to various delays, damage, injuries or deaths.
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