1System 4IWT aimed to build a learning system that will act as a solution for ensuring and enduring continuity of education & training for IWT students and workers. The project wanted to generate a „personalized learning experience”. Furthermore, the project would focus on developing commons resources, meeting the needs of nowadays trends and challenges for (incoming) staff in the IWT sector.
Currently there is no formal structure and or culture in the IWT sector for upskilling. It is the only subsector in the transport industry in Europe without compulsory courses or refreshers. In this industry we see a lot of incidents, near misses and ‘ship to ship’ or ‘ship to shore’ (land stations) miscommunication. The number of inland shipping accidents and damage claims has been increasing every year since 2014. Also the value for claims is rising. In 2021 European Barge Union (EBU), European IWT Platform and IVR (the united insurers) have committed Intergo for an in-depth study of the human factors in inland shipping accidents. Data show that human factors, including various human errors, are the primary cause of a large number of accidents in inland navigation. The numbers don't lie: human factor plays a decisive role in approximately 70-80% of all accidents occurring in inland shipping. The Intergo study report (Feb. 2022) strongly recommends to start building a culture of upskilling in this sector.