Maritime and Coastguard Agency to introduce digital assessments

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is launching a digital platform to train and assess its cadets in 2026. The digital platform means the current paper-based methods are being phased out, and allows the MCA to give candidates a higher focus on real-life scenarios using technology.

The new digital assessment platform will begin to be used by candidates sitting their exams in the first half of 2026. This comes after the MCA updated its training syllabus to focus more on digital charts, cyber security and data skills for its Cadet Training and Modernisation programme.

The platform will allow for multiple choice, written or sketch-based answers, annotation of high quality 2D and 3D images, including electronic navigation charts, as well as automated marking. It will also automatically generate assessments from a dedicated question bank.

MCA chief examiner Ajit Jacob said the digital platform “is a vital step in modernising how we verify the skills of the next generation of modern seafarers”, adding: “It will ensure our certification process accurately reflects the role-specific competencies required to operate a vessel safely and efficiently, giving us and the wider industry greater confidence in the qualifications being issued.”

The MCA went out to tender for the platform in June, and in October 2025 awarded the contract to the International Association of Maritime Institutions, the global network of maritime training providers, which will be responsible for delivering the tool by March 2026.

In September 2025, the MCA launched plans a cloud-based app for its students, replacing paper training record books. The app is designed to store updates on smartphones and tablets without the internet so trainees can still use it while at sea to gain competences.

Available on both android and iOS devices, it gives trainees the ability to upload videos and photos of completed tasks, as well as save certificates they have gained. It also offers advice and guidance to cadets on each section of the training, and assessors are able to remotely sign off and update the training.

While the MCA does not deliver training itself, it is responsible for overseeing that standards are maintained by training providers.

In 2024, the MCA launched a communications network connecting 163 remote radio sites across 11,000 miles of UK coastline as part of its Radio Network Infrastructure Replacement (RNIR) programme.

As an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport, the MCA is tasked with preventing loss of life on the coast and at sea. It produces legislation and guidance on maritime matters and provides certification to ships and seafarers. As well as delivering maritime search and rescue through HM Coastguard (one of the four UK emergency services), the MCA is responsible for maritime regulation, safety and counter-pollution.

In 2019, the government launched its Maritime 2050 strategy, and in November 2020, the MCA established its  Maritime Future Technologies Team (MFT), aiming to assist in understanding the new technologies available and help facilitate the conversation for regulatory change.