West Coast mariner training facilities continue to keep pace
with ever-changing industry requirements for present and future mariners.
The California Maritime Academy’s Steve Kreta, Associate Vice President
for Academic Affairs, says. “We’ve been anticipating the changes with regard to
ECDIS, maritime security, bridge team management and engine team management, so
we haven’t had to make any major changes to our curriculum. What’s new is
fatigue training. We have to make sure cadets and licensed graduates understand
the rules regarding rest, and we’ll be introducing those new requirements into
the curriculum.”
West Coast mariner training facilities continue to keep pace with ever-changing industry requirements for present and future mariners.
The
California Maritime Academy’s Steve Kreta, Associate Vice President for
Academic Affairs, says. “We’ve been anticipating the changes with regard to
ECDIS, maritime security, bridge team management and engine team management, so
we haven’t had to make any major changes to our curriculum. What’s new is
fatigue training. We have to make sure cadets and licensed graduates understand
the rules regarding rest, and we’ll be introducing those new requirements into
the curriculum.”
Another
new course the Academy is offering is part of the Master of Science,
Transportation and Engineering Management Masters Degree is Humanitarian Disaster
Management. “It’s for scenarios just like what is playing out in New York right
now,” says Kreta. “We’re excited about the program. I believe it is the only
Masters available in Humanitarian Management.”
Kreta
says enrollment has been steadily increasing, with numbers nearing 1,000
students, which he attributes to the fact that a lot of public colleges are
becoming more difficult to get into, so students are looking at different
career paths that they might not have thought of before. “We have a very high
employment rate at graduation,” he notes. The Academy’s graduate degree started
last September, and the first class of 18 students will graduate in May 2013.
Simulation
training is an integral part of the curriculum, and this past summer was the
first time the shipboard simulator on the Academy’s training ship the T/S
Golden Bear was fully functioning) Kreta explains. “The forward end allows our
upper class students to practice going into the various ports. For example, he
says, “The Port of LA is featured so students learn where the pilot boat would
meet us, how they would enter the port, what the port looks like, so upon
arrival in the real world, they would already have run that scenario. That has
proven to be a tremendous asset to our students.”
A
recently announced engineering requirement for US vessels transiting Canadian
waters en route to and from Canadian ports is also calling for changes to some
training programs. The US Coast Guard says effective October 26, 2013, Canada
will require vessels having a propulsive power of at least 1,000HP to perform
an engineering watch. Hence there will be certification changes to Designated
Duty Engineers.
“Our
preparation is going on right now so we can work on meeting the new demands,”
says Dr. Carl O. Ellis, Assistant Dean of the Seattle Maritime Academy. Ellis
reports spaces are quickly filling for the one-year engineering courses.
Orientation begins in January and could be closed by March for classes that
begin in September 2013. He says this is a great course for someone without any
sea time who wants to be an engineer on a vessel.
The
Academy’s new state-of-the-art facility is still on course for breaking ground
in July of 2013. “When that happens, it will be an extraordinary moment in the
maritime industry around here,” says Ellis.
Jon
Kjaerulff, President of Seattle-based Fremont Maritime Services says new SCTW
requirements will also affect basic safety and fire-fighting training. “Nothing
has changed yet,” he says, “but it looks like in the not-too-distant future the
rules will be published.”
Mariners
will likely no longer receive automatic renewal of Basic Safety Training simply
by documenting one year of sea time beyond the Boundary Line in the previous
five-year period. At the very least, they will have to complete one day of
practical survival refresher training, and one day of practical basic
fire-fighting training.
Mariners
without one year of sea time beyond the Boundary Line will still be required to
complete either the 5-day original or 3-day refresher Basic Safety Training,
which in addition to personal survival and fire-fighting, also cover first aid
and personal safety. In addition, licensed mariners who are required to have
advanced fire-fighting will probably require two days of advanced fire-fighting
refresher training every five years at the time of renewal.
“The
only course we will have to develop beyond what we already offer is the
advanced fire-fighting 2-day refresher,” says Kjaerulff. “As far as the 1-day
fire-fighting and survival courses, we already have a 3-day basic training
refresher class and would simply take out the first aid and personal safety and
social responsibilities day so it would become a 2-day refresher. There are
also indications in the Coast Guard policy letter that they may require refresher
training for proficiency in survival craft or lifeboatman but they don’t
indicate a frequency on that.”
Besides
the SCTW changes, another new industry change is on the horizon with regard to
lifeboat safety. As of January, 2013, IMO regulations via SOLAS Chapter III/1.5
will see hook manufacturers testing their hooks, now called release and
retrieval systems, against new criteria intended to dramatically improve
safety.
Hooks
that don’t meet the criteria must be replaced on ships at their first drydocking
after July 1, 2014 and no later than July 1, 2019. Captain Pat Boyle, Director
of Training and Certification for the Anacortes, Washington-based Q3 Marine
Training says, “We haven’t seen any effect on our enrollment just yet, but we
do see companies rehooking in advance of the July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2019
period.”
Boyle
says there are some 70 manufacturers on the market, which has made dealing with
lifeboat hooks complicated for the mariner. “Hopefully, after the new hooks are
introduced, mariners should only have to work with a dozen or so from ship to
ship during their career,” he says. “We anticipate an increase in training
activity as shipowners will have this as an unavoidable cost.”
Also
adjusting to new SCTW requirements, Q3 will be running their first Able Body
Seaman course in December. “We can capture mariners right when they’re being
certified to work, so we can introduce them to the proper methodologies of
lifeboat use.”
“We
always emphasize safety concerns in operating lifeboat davits,” adds Julie
Keim, owner of Compass Courses located in Edmonds, Washington. “There have been
so many accidents and even deaths during lifeboat drills. Lifesaving equipment
should have as few inherent risks as possible, and these new regulations are
working toward that goal.”
Keim
says Compass Courses’ current numbers are on track with the 1,100 mariners the
company trained in 2011. “We are seeing an uptick in the fourth quarter though,
and we attribute that to the looming changes in fishing regulations and a general
shift in safety culture. We are also busy gearing up for the 2013 Crowley
Safety Program Basic Safety Training Refresher class which will see around 600
crew.”
Compass
Courses is also adjusting their courses to meet the SCTW Manila amendments.
Additionally, they’ve added a 2-day Apprentice Mate (Steersman), 4-day Upgrade
Master 100 Ton to Master 200 Ton, Fishing Vessel Drill Instructor and
Assistance Towing to their long-established training courses. They are also
joining forces with The Anchor Program (a non-profit service organization that
provides vocational and life skills training to youth and others interested in
pursuing careers in the maritime industry), and starting in 2013, the school
will be offering a new four-week QMED course.”
Even
students as young as age 15 who enter Seattle’s Ballard Maritime Academy (BMA),
part of Ballard High School, are now starting to get familiar with SCTW
requirements. “This year we’ll be taking a group of students through the full
SCTW Basic Safety Training course because it’s the minimum certification
they’re going to need doing anything on a vessel,” says Lead Instructor John
Foster. “We do part of the training here, and the second part is done at
California Maritime Academy.” During the training in California, the students
will share dorms, eat cafeteria food, and use the facilities to carry out their
water safety exercises in order to get real-world certification. “It not only
teaches them how to be safe, but also about how to get along with people in
shipboard environments,” he adds.
Foster
explains senior students have two options with BMA; one is an oceanography 101
course that is a college-equivalent high school course they can use for college
credits, and on the maritime side, they can take an Operator Uninspected
Passenger Vessel (OUPV) license course, a base entry-level Coast Guard license
exam. “If students are interested in a career, this is the first level of
training,” he says. “It teaches them the rules of the road, deck operations,
standing watch, how to get and maintain a license and what training you need.
Most won’t have sea time yet, but this is a good introduction on how Coast
Guard exams and licensing work, and gives them a chance to start a career a lot
earlier.”
Juniors
also play engineer-for-a-day and go down to Northwest Seaport and see the
progress of technology on ships like the historic Virginia V steamship and the
Arthur Foss Washington diesel vessel. Foster is also excited to be working with
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service on a history project where some of the
students are interviewing old-time fishermen to get their stories of
years-gone-by.
“One
of the great things that has happened is we have students who are graduating
from maritime schools and getting jobs and making good money. These kids are
coming back and telling their stories,” he continues. “It’s good for the
students to hear it from someone who’s closer in age to them, that way it’s
much more valuable and relevant to them.”
The
Northwest Center of Excellence for Marine Manufacturing & Technology, part
of Skagit Valley College, has been seeing a flock of new students as new
fisheries legislation recently introduced could see some two to four hundred
new boats required to be built, according to Director Ann Avary. “Clearly the
State of Washington has a very robust shipbuilding component, and I think one
of the exciting things about that is not only the jobs that it will create but
the demand for very specific types of training around ship fitting, so if you
know your way around electronics, electrical, corrosion, HVAC and that type
technology, there really are jobs out there waiting for you.”
Avary
says the increase in enrollment is a wonderful problem to have. “We are at a
point where we are trying to manage this growth that’s occurring. We have a
second section in one of our composites course that we’ve never had before. We
could very well be in a position where we are having to offer second sessions
again of some courses.”
Generally,
the Marine Technology courses are 10 weeks long, and there are one and two-year
options in the program. For instance, students doing the one-year track would
get a marine technology certificate from Skagit Valley College. And at the end
of the academic year, they can sit for a number of credentialing exams that are
nationally and sometimes internationally recognized by the industry.
Paid
internships are also part of the curriculum, plus the college program also has
industry experts come in and give presentations. Additionally, those working in
the field often return to take additional courses. “We do a fair amount of
incumbent employee training,” says Avary. “The use of materials, design
processes and the technical competencies are going to continue to evolve. We
are going to see technology areas grow exponentially in the next five years.”
In
July, PMI-MITAGS’ Workboat Academy located in Seattle, was awarded the
Registered Apprenticeship Innovator and Trailblazer for PMI’s Apprenticeship
Program, in recognition of the 75th Anniversary of the National Apprenticeship
Act by the US Dept. of Labor. “This award recognizes apprenticeships across all
trades,” says Glen Paine, Executive Director of PMI-MITAGS. “Upon graduation,
more than 90 percent of students are staying with the company they apprentice
with and more than 98 percent since 2005 are still working in the industry.”
Workboat
Academy Assistant Director Marja van Pietersom says the two-year program covers
academic, sea phases as well as simulator phases. “We hit them four times with
the same information (classroom, simulator, on-board training, on-board
assessment) so they really understand how to apply what they learn in the
field. We also get together with our now 31 partner companies to discuss what
we can do to enhance the program based on what’s happening in the industry.”
During
final exams, students are observed in the Academy’s simulator by
representatives of the company they’ve been apprenticing with. “We call it the
second interview,” says van Pietersom. Paine reports the Academy has invested
heavily in their simulator in order to keep improving on technology for better
assessments. “People really believe they’re at sea when in the simulator.”
The
Academy has also been very successful in readying people in the military who
are transitioning careers. Together PMI-MITAGS issues 6,000 certificates a
year. Additionally, adds Paine, “College credits are also given. Students can
get a B.A. or Masters, which is a great value-added option that is really
helpful for their transition to a shore position.”
