Braving the Wind and Waves, Setting Sail on a New Voyage — Shanghai Huayang 2026 New Graduate Seafarer Career Planning & Practical Skills Training Course Successfully Held
The joyful atmosphere of the Spring Festival holiday still lingered as a group of vibrant young people arrived at the Shanghai Maritime University Harbor Campus — the new graduate trainees of Shanghai Huayang for the year 2026! Eighty-six youthful faces, hailing from over ten renowned maritime academies including Shanghai Maritime University, Dalian Maritime University, and Jimei University, gathered at this departure point for their dreams, united by their aspiration for the blue ocean.
Conducting career planning and practical training for new graduates has become a key initiative for Shanghai Huayang in recent years. Every young person joining the maritime industry through the company undergoes this intensive ten-plus day "initiation." The training's purpose is straightforward: to allow these recent graduates to feel the weight of the ship's wheel and hear the sound of the waves before they step onto the deck. From theoretical classrooms to practical exercises, from team building to cultural immersion, every arrangement aims to help trainees accelerate their transformation from students to prospective seafarers.
On the morning of March 5th, the opening ceremony commenced amidst enthusiastic applause. General Manager Wang Xiaohua, Deputy General Manager Lu Jiangfeng, and other relevant department heads of Shanghai Huayang attended the event.
In opening address, General Manager Wang Xiaohua first expressed sincere gratitude to the School of Continuing Education at Shanghai Maritime University for their substantial support in the company's training efforts over the years. He also extended a warm welcome to the trainees for choosing to join the Shanghai Huayang family.
Mr. Wang pointed out that the shipping industry is currently undergoing profound changes. Facing the dual challenges of a complex international environment and industry transformation, building a high-quality crew force is not only an inherent requirement for the company to achieve high-quality development but also a crucial cornerstone for serving national strategies and ensuring shipping safety. He stated that since the company initiated this training program in collaboration with Shanghai Maritime University, it has consistently received significant attention and positive feedback from numerous partner shipowners. It has become a vital instrument for the company to deepen industry-education integration, fulfill social responsibilities, and advance its talent-strong enterprise strategy.
Finally, Mr. Wang offered his advice to all trainees: Seize this training opportunity to immerse yourselves in learning, engage in thoughtful reflection, and participate actively in practice. Absorb wisdom from theory and refine your skills through practice. He encouraged them not only to pursue excellence in professional skills but also to continuously enhance their professional ethics, safety awareness, and developmental vision. He expressed his hope that they would strive to become well-rounded, capable maritime professionals of the new era, possessing both virtue and talent, and uniting knowledge with action.
The training days were substantial and packed, covering team-building activities, company pre-job orientation, practical exercises at the Maritime Safety Administration Assessment Demonstration Center, visits to maritime culture education bases, and shipowner presentations and interviews. The company pre-job orientation allowed trainees to truly grasp the realities of the industry. General Manager Wang Xiaohua led by example, teaching a session himself and offering guidance based on his years of industry experience. Heads or representatives from departments such as Crew Management, Liquid Cargo, Labor Service, and Documentation engaged in face-to-face discussions with the trainees, addressing their concerns on topics ranging from job assignment and certificate processing to career development and compensation packages.
Furthermore, the training included lectures delivered by multiple senior captains and chief engineers from the Bulk Carrier and Ship Management departments, covering topics like navigation safety, ship management, technological frontiers, and operational procedures. An English teacher was also specially invited to conduct face-to-face spoken English sessions, targeting the "weak link" of maritime English for most trainees, thereby enhancing their professional language skills to a certain extent. During the practical sessions, trainees simulated operations in a realistic environment, experiencing firsthand what it feels like to "be the captain or chief engineer," thereby strengthening their job adaptability and emergency response capabilities.
In the team-building and collaboration segment, trainees were randomly divided into groups to undertake a series of ice-breaking and challenging tasks. Evolving from initial shyness and restraint to later, the young faces gradually shed their unfamiliarity, and the seeds of collaboration were quietly sown. Gao Hua, Assistant General Manager of Shanghai Huayang, provided a concluding summary for the team-building activities.
The visit to the maritime culture education infused the training with a deeper sense of purpose. Inside the planetarium at the China Maritime Museum, the dome's star chart rotated slowly, evoking awe among the younger generation for the wisdom of ancient mariners who crossed the Indian Ocean using stellar navigation. This experience further strengthened their sense of mission and responsibility as future seafarers.
As dusk fell and lights began to twinkle, the historic buildings along the Bund stood opposite the gleaming skyscrapers of Lujiazui, with the Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower shining brightly against the night sky. Standing on a sightseeing cruise ship, feeling the river breeze, some trainees busily took photos to post on social media, while others gathered in small groups, enthusiastically discussing their future maritime dreams—"Someday I'll bring a ship into port at Waigaoqiao!" "I want to sail the oceans, go on a global voyage!" At that moment, the vitality and prosperity of Shanghai as an international shipping center felt intimately connected to them.
The shipowner presentation and interview segment brought the training to a climax. Representatives from several well-known shipping companies took the stage one after another, outlining different career prospects based on their fleet sizes, trade routes, and training mechanisms. The trainees, holding carefully prepared resumes, rehearsed their self-introductions silently in the waiting areas...
By the conclusion of the training, over 80 trainees had successively signed contracts with their preferred shipowners, ready to embark on their own seafaring journeys. Though the training was short, the camaraderie forged was deep. In just about ten days, these young people studied together, practiced together, exercised together, and toured together, transitioning from strangers to friends, from uncertainty to resolve. One said, "The training gave me a more realistic understanding of seafaring and made me clearer about the path I want to take." Another commented, "Even though I'm far from home, I truly felt the warmth of a family in the Huayang big family."
"Braving the Wind and Waves, Setting Sail on a New Voyage." May these 86 talented young individuals, carrying this initial aspiration and enthusiasm, cleave through the waves on the vast ocean and write their own unique seafaring stories with their youth. Shanghai Huayang will forever be your most solid backing!
