Specialized Training News

Sturgeon Bay, Wis. shipyard Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding (FBS) is expanding its partnership with a local technical college in an effort to advance the maritime manufacturing industry and meet growing workforce demand within the region.In fall 2022, FBS and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) designed a specialized training program for FBS employees to advance their welding and ship/pipe-fitting techniques. Since the launch, 97 participants have successfully completed this five-week course offered through the NWTC Sturgeon Bay campus.

In addition to wind, offshore wind demands human energy, individuals with knowledge and skills first to build and then operate and maintain the dozens of projects required to meet President Biden’s 2030 goal of 30 GW of offshore generation. In an October 2022 National Renewable Energy Laboratory report – “U.S. Offshore Wind Workforce Assessment” – the authors estimate that it will require, on average, between 15,000 and 58,000 employees annually, depending on domestic content scenarios, to build out a huge new wind machine.Mariners and mariner training are integral to offshore wind.

Philly Shipyard held a steel cutting ceremony for the fourth in a series of new training ships it is building for the United States' state maritime academies.Scheduled for delivery to the Texas A&M Maritime Academy in Galveston, Texas in 2025, the new National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) is being built under a program for the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD), which owns and operates training ships for the nation's state maritime academiesMARAD's NSMV program is designed to provide a purpose-built…

The modern merchant mariner is required to be competent in a number of skills and knowledge areas, such as firefighting, CPR, vessel security and even how to work as a team. Absent from this list is the mariner’s role in fighting climate change. Maybe it’s time for that to change.The Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) is an internationally recognized set of rules that set minimum standards and competencies for mariners to perform their jobs effectively and safely. Before STCW was formed in 1978 it was left to individual governments to set mariner training standards.

Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku said it will permanently lay off 84 people from outfitting and design functions upon the conclusion of YT-negotiations on Tuesday. The number includes nine blue-collar and 75 white-collar workers.The shipyard, which specializes in cruise ship and large passenger vessel construction, has been hardly hit by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Including today's job cuts and another round of layoffs announced in August, Meyer Turku has let go 250 people, which is below its original estimate of 450 from the start of negotiations in April.

Finnish shipbuilding company Meyer Turku will permanently lay off 166 people due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on its business.The company which builds cruise ships had in April said it would lay off up to 450 of its roughly 2,000 employees, with talks also in place for another 900 to be affected by other measures, such as temporary layoffs of different length, work time adjustments, and other arrangements. Meyer Turku on Thursday said that the first part of permanent layoffs negotiations had come to a conclusion with a decision made to permanently lay off 166 people.

"The introduction of invasive aquatic organisms into new marine environments not only affects biodiversity and ecosystem health, but also has measurable impacts on a number of economic sectors" said Lilia Khodjet El Khil, head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO)-led GloFouling Partnerships project.The GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling Partnerships project has concluded two workshops, one in Madagascar and one in Mauritius (19-21 August), two of 12 lead partnering countries whose aim is to protect marine biodiversity by addressing biofouling.During the first workshop, held in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Captain Jean Edmond Randrianantenaina, added that "these invasive species can also pose a threat to public health through consumption of fish products".

Greek e-learning company SQLearn announced its collaboration with the international operator, owner and manager of LNG carriers, GasLog, providing e-learning services from its Dolphin Platforms for the entire of its operating fleet of 27 vessels.Mrs. Archontia Leni, Competency Assurance Manager of GasLog stated: "Through our strategic cooperation with SQLearn, and its innovative suite of e-learning products and services, we are able to provide our crew with specialized training, while at the same time we can manage all e-learning activities onboard and ashore."A press release from SQLearn said that its Dolphin Library – part of Dolphin Platforms –is consisted of interactive e-learning courses that cover the training needs of the shipping companies.

When the Africa Mercy, the world’s largest private hospital ship, provides its next field service in Cameroon, Africa, it will do so with a new dive boat and several new Mercury Marine outboard engines for the ship’s dive and rescue operations thanks to a recent donation from Brunswick Corporation and its engine subsidiary, Mercury Marine. Mercy Ships is a global charity that offers free life-changing surgeries, holistic health care and specialized training for local health care professionals in some of the world’s poorest areas.

Last week’s Nautical Institute London Command Seminar saw the appointment of Captain John Lloyd RD MBA FNI as the Institute’s new chief executive officer, succeeding Philip Wake OBE RD MSc FNI, who is retiring after 14 years in post. Speaking at Trinity House, the venue for the third of the Institute’s 2017 command seminar series, Captain Lloyd said, “I am delighted to be leading the next phase of development at The Nautical Institute, at a time of great change for our industry.

BMT Ship & Coastal Dynamics (BMT)  announced a new contract with the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). BMT has installed its marine navigation and maneuvering simulator, Rembrandt and will provide ongoing specialized training, to allow MAIB personnel to benefit from its unique attributes. Richard North, Technical Manager at MAIB said “Rembrandt is a well-regarded and trusted solution, widely used by a broad spectrum of stakeholders including pilot organizations…

St. CMS operates a range of marine simulation equipment that covers a broad range of marine and offshore activities. Much of the equipment is highly specialized and unique including fully motion capable simulators. The center also provides technical management and support of simulation equipment that is used by other parts of the Marine Institute. CMS simulation activities can be divided into three main areas; Training, Industrial Response, and Applied Research. To support these…

Empresa Moçambicana de Dragagens E.P. has recently formed some of its maritime people so that they are trained according to the standards and requirements of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and STCW Convention (Convention – Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers). Recognizing the importance of professional training, not only in the valuation of human capital, but also to create conditions that allow a safe maritime activity, EMODRAGA, E.P. found in the Mozambican training company ROTC, Lda., legally accredited by INAMAR in Mozambique, the ideal partner capable to ensure the responsibility of training EMODRAGA’s seafarers.

Fathom is finalizing preparations for its July 17 Dominican Republic voyage representing the first ever cruise to the Caribbean focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programming. The 7-day cruise will feature specialized STEM-focused workshops for educators that Fathom developed in close collaboration with the Center for Science Teaching and Learning (CSTL). Fathom also will play host to the fifth annual Clean Tech Competition, a unique research and design challenge for pre-college youth. Additionally, advertising students from the Gaylord College at the University of Oklahoma’s (OU) student-run advertising and…

GOST (Global Ocean Security Technologies), a world leader in marinesecurity, tracking, monitoring and video surveillance systems, announced today that it has partnered with Phantom Rescue in its fight against child trafficking. Phantom Rescue is a non-profit organization that provides awareness and deterrence for the prevention of child trafficking, enhanced global networking to stop the underground activities that contribute to human sex trafficking and most importantly, the organization takes direct action to locate, rescue, and return “taken” children to the safety of their loved ones. “Everyday, 46 children are stolen and forced into sex slavery or labor in the United States. That is 17,000 kids per year in this country alone,” said Jay Keenan, president and CEO of GOST.

The Port of London Authority (PLA) is recruiting 12 new pilots this year to respond to increased traffic on the Thames. The PLA is looking for candidates with a Class 1 Unlimited Certificate of Competency. Other suitably qualified candidate who can demonstrate experience relative to marine pilotage will also be considered. The candidates will typically undertake a 28-week training course consisting of training on the PLA’s ship bridge simulator and tug simulator, training in Vessel Traffic Services and on board tugs and ships, with regular reviews, assessments and oral exams.

Turner Designs, along with scientists from around the world participated in a research cruise aboard the RV Meteor, a vessel owned by the Federal Republic of Germany through the Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT) and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The goal of this cruise was focused on ballast water sampling techniques and protocols. Various instruments were used to test collected ballast water enabling researchers to determine efficiency for the various sampling techniques employed.

Kongsberg Maritime has become the first global maritime training provider to offer a new DNV-GL approved Dynamic Positioning Operator (DPO) training scheme at its training centers worldwide. The new KONGSBERG Training Scheme for DP Operators is based on a combination of new and established DNV training standards, with the learning process designed by Kongsberg Maritime. The scheme is a step-change in the critical area of DPO training, with teaching and assessor competence, and…

Each year, the U.S. Navy conducts comprehensive training for U.S. and foreign navy hydrographers. The program known as IHMEP (International Hydrographic Management and Engineering Program) trains U.S. and allied foreign navy personnel to be certified hydrographers through practical training and various marine science and associated curricula. Navy hydrographers collect hydrographic data to create navy charts, a service essential to the safe passage of ships wherever the navy carry out their military operations and exercises. Obtaining these skills is also critical because errors in charts can lead to groundings or accidental impact with submerged obstructions.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Naval Air Station Oceana at Dam Neck, Virginia, expect to begin a shore protection project at the Dam Neck annex within the next month. Sand from the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), to be used for this project, will enhance coastal resilience by protecting shoreline infrastructure. In addition, the project will restore shorebird and sea turtle nesting habitat and improve the recreational beach in this Virginia Beach community.

Resolve Maritime Academy informed it has started building a new, two-story wet trainer, larger and more expansive than its original, the L/V Gray Manatee. “We are incredibly proud to offer a course that combines stability and damage control using our new two-story wet trainer,” said Denise Johnston, Resolve Maritime Academy Director. Utilizing props meant to simulate flooding from breaches, broken pipes, and hatches, the new wet trainer is designed to give the first responders of a vessel the knowledge and understanding necessary to deal with survivable hull breaches. Located next to the L/V Gray Manatee in Port Everglades, the academy’s new wet trainer is one of the largest in the industry.

At Recruit Training Command, they transform civilians into basically trained, physically fit, well disciplined Sailors – 39,000 of them each year. They are trained by a cadre of fleet experienced enlisted Sailors who must meet stringent screening standards and embody our Navy core values of honor, courage and commitment. The Command continually looks for talented 2nd and 1st class petty officers, chiefs and senior chiefs to become recruit division commanders and basic naval orientation instructors, tasked with forging the next generation of Sailors. "Just as our recruits will go into every field in the Navy, the recruit division commanders and instructors come from every enlisted community throughout the fleet," says Capt. John Dye, Commanding Officer, Recruit Training Command.

The United States Maritime Resource Center (USMRC) in Middletown, Rhode Island and ClassNK have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) laying out a framework for future technical cooperation to carry out joint research and development activities for the maritime industry. This will mark the first time a major ship classification society has teamed with a prominent marine operations simulation center engaged in specialized training and research in North America.