Nick Potter, AET’s President and CEO, delivered a keynote at The Nautical Institute (Singapore) Conference 2026, part of Safety@Sea Week, on the theme "Seaworthiness and Seafarers in a Changing World" on 20 August 2026.
He addressed three 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, Nick 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 our 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. Nick 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.
Our responsibility, said Nick, is not simply to make ships capable of surviving that world. “It is to make sure the people aboard them can thrive in it.”
Capt. Hari Subramaniam (Chair, The Nautical Institute – Singapore branch), Nick Potter (President & CEO, AET), Sakura Kuma (Executive Officer, MOL, Managing Director, MOL Asia Oceania), Ang Wee Keong (Chief Executive, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore) and Capt. Ken Ellam (Vice Chair, The Nautical Institute – Singapore branch)
Nick Potter, AET’s President and CEO, delivered a keynote at The Nautical Institute (Singapore) Conference 2026 on the theme "Seaworthiness and Seafarers in a Changing World".
