MITAGS to Offer Ship Security Officer Training

Glen Paine, Executive Director, the Maritime Institute of Technology & Graduate Studies (MITAGS) and Pacific Maritime Institute (PMI) has announced that a new training course for Ship Security Officer (SSO) will be available for all interested mariners and company representatives. There will be two one-week sessions, the first beginning on February 3rd and the second beginning on February 10th, 2003. These sessions will be some of the first SSO training opportunities offered to the public and will be presented in a “beta” format. Feedback from attendees will be utilized to finalize course materials and content, which will be submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard as a proposed model course. Piracy and terrorist attacks are increasing against commercial shipping worldwide. The ICC (International Chambers of Commerce) Piracy Report, released October 24, 2002, indicates “a significant increase in the number of piracy attacks on the world's oceans, rising from 253 incidents in the nine months of 2001 to 271 for the corresponding period in 2002.”