In the global maritime industry, ineffective and ambiguous communication often is a contributing cause of shipping accidents. Unnecessary risk may also be created by communication in day-to-day routine conversations between ships and shore service operators (IALA, 2017). Routine maritime communication between shore service operators and ship crews significantly deviates from the standard protocol of communication, as shown in a coamprehensive data-based quantitative study recently conducted by Jurkovič (2022) who corroborated the findings of other authors in different geographical contexts (Dževerdanović-Pejović, 2013; Boström, 2020).

This which indicates a strong need for widely available relevant digital educational tools for maritime communication. Maritime education and training institutions and national maritime safety authorities, both have the role of partners in this project, are responsible for providing maritime communication education and training in which discourse use is integrated with specific roles and situations. Modern technologies allow the creation of speech-recognition chatbots for self-directed life-long learning. To date, no international project nor research study has addressed maritime communication from the point of view of shore service operators as a key communication agent that has a significant impact on navigational safety. In addition, so far no project has focused on the development of a combination of instructional videos and chatbots based on authentic routine communication data.

Another important finding made by Jurkovič (2022) is the need for harmonization between the documents that define the standard protocol of communication, and the need for a research-based revision of the Standard Marine Communication Phrases (IMO, 2001). The project will bring added value at European level because it will create synergies among two educational contexts that have developed from different educational traditions: that of the Scandinavian countries and that of southern and south-eastern European countries. Ultimately, the results of the project will be communicated to the international bodies competent for the maritime world globally and thus for the EU (IMO, IALA, ITU, IMLA, IMEC, EMSA), which will bring systemic added value to the results.