WORLD CLASS TRAINING. BEHIND QUALITY SHIPPING

EDUCATION: The quality of shipping is one of the main reasons why Denmark today is Europe’s leading shipping nation and has the highest growth worldwide. And quality builds on people. A significant part of the complex processes of shipping is played by a well-trained and competent crew.

Svendborg International Maritime Academy has the latest equipment including several simulators which can simulate many ports worldwide. Here the students can learn how to bring a 300,000 tonne tanker out of a crisis situation caused for example by engine failure in the Singapore Strait.

Senior executives The Danish training programme for ship’s officers in the merchant fleet is an international management programme which consists of two parts. The first is for junior officer where the training takes 4 1/2 years, and the second is additional training to senior officer which takes 1 1/2 years. The junior programme is dual training which enables the officer to work on the bridge, on the deck and in the machine room. On the senior programme, the officer can choose the machine room, navigation or a combination of the two. Both training courses comprise a large number of subjects including meteorology, communication, practical seamanship, navigation and machine technology. The senior part also comprises management development, shipping and operational management, ship operations and administration, ship management and technology.

 

Ship’s officers in the Danish merchant fleet have the most modern and most comprehensive training in the world. In 1997, the shipping industry and the authorities merged the two ’old’ training programmes of officer and marine engineer respectively into one training programme, ship’s officer. And in December 2005, the first group of dual-trained ship’s officers were assigned to the Danish merchant fleet.

The first group of junior officers who started training back in 1997 has now been at sea since 2001, and the response to the quality of the officers is largely positive.

Polytechnicians
“The new dual training programme has produced some of the world’s best-trained polytechnicians, not only regarding shipping, but also for jobs on land and in the offshore industry,” says director Per Michael Johansen, head of Svendborg International Maritime Academy - SIMAC –which is based in the south Funen shipping town of Svendborg. The entire theoretical training required to become a ship’s officer in Denmark is conducted at SIMAC.

The training for junior officers takes 4 1/2 years, including both theoretical training in Svendborg and practical training on one of the Danish merchant fleet’s ships. The junior officer can then join the crew of a merchant ship – on the bridge, on the deck or in the machine room.

Responsibility for millions of dollars
“The new additional training programme, of which we have great expectations, will complete training of senior ship’s officers who will be among the best in the world, and who are able to take on all management tasks on all kinds of ships, large as well as small. One can choose between marine engineer, navigator or dual officer. This is management training which ranks among the best in the world.” Commanding a ship today is synonymous with taking responsibility for millions of dollars worth of ship and cargo. So the Danish training for ship’s officers is based on management and handling of crisis situations just as much as the old, more traditional skills.