Maersk Train Developing Country Seafarers

Maersk Supply Service to train 25 young Angolan recruits for service in its offshore supply vessels

Twenty-five eager young seafarers will have the opportunity to acquire maritime skills and develop their potential through Maersk Supply Service's recently launched new seafaring programme for Angolans. In a first for the company, the cadets will be trained in India. The initiative will not only benefit Maersk Supply Service, but also help build capacity in the Angolan offshore industry.

Angola requires foreign companies operating in the country to employ 70 per cent of their workforce locally over time. But in a country with no seafaring tradition, Maersk Supply Service had a challenge in building up its own pool of certified, competent employees. The initiative will add 25 new recruits to that pool.

Interest in the training opportunity has been overwhelming. A single advertisement in a local Angolan newspaper resulted in 4000 applications. Maersk Supply Service whittled these thousands down to 25 seafarer trainees and the 25 chosen have left for Chennai in India for up to 12 months of language and seafarer training conducted by Maersk Training India and Maritime Foundation, a private training centre.

The group will spearhead a new Maersk Supply Service programme aimed at building up a pool of local Maersk seafarers in this oil-rich country and important growth market.

"Although we are in Angola for business, we firmly believe that it's important to contribute to the countries in which we work. This programme is just a first step in what we consider to be a long journey towards expanding our pool of professional seafarers in Angola," Claus Tafteberg Sørensen, Maersk Supply Service Chief Commercial Officer says.