Clay Maitland

On a quest for quality in shipping

How we can make the seafarer’s lot better

This week I found myself on the Amalfi coast for the excellent Mare Forum VII entitled Italy and the World – Quo Vadis? Continue reading

Three schools with fantastic stories

Uplifting stories are fairly rare in any industry these days, and shipping is no exception.

However, at the recent Connecticut Maritime Association trade fair and annual meeting, and at the IMO, startling, hopeful and
positive signs of spring have been visible.

At CMA, amid the various booths, stands and shipbrokers, and endless chatter on piracy, there appeared two new and inspiring things: the maritime training school in Simonstown South Africa (proper name: the Lawhill
Maritime Centre) and the cadets of the Baltimore, Maryland Harbour School
(or to give it its correct name, the Maritime Industry Academy).

At the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and in Malmo, Sweden, the World Maritime University opened in 1983, has established itself as a unique and internal maritime post-graduate maritime university.

But… Continue reading

Investment in cadet training needed now

Roberto Giorgi, president of V.Ships, who is also president of Intermanager, in a recent interview with Lloyd’s List , has called for a compulsory requirement for facilities on newbuildings, for cadets. Continue reading

All talk and no action

A great deal has been said, at the seemingly numberless conferences on (a) piracy, and (b) the Year of the Seafarer, that (c) there is a shortage of qualified seafarers; (d) that “criminalisation” of the seafarer is a growing problem; that (e) better training is needed; and that (f) we of the shipping community must do something about these problems. Continue reading

Seafarers must be educated on new regulations

I am currently in Abu Dhabi where I have had the pleasure to take part in a conference about the Maritime Environment and the role Flag states will play in the implementation of the new IMO regulations i.e the new Audit Scheme. Continue reading

Clarifying the STCW issues

In June, delegates to the Revision Conference of the International Maritime Organisation on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping will meet in Manila to take up 13 draft resolutions dealing with such issues as recruitment and retention, crewing levels, and the like. Continue reading

The ‘ramifications’ of training

In the run-up to the STCW Conference in Manila this June, India has proposed that there be mandatory space for training berths provided on all new ships. This will be one of the more heated issues to be discussed. Additional space to accommodate trainee cadets (which might become mandatory) is seemingly attractive, in light of the IMO’s current “Go to Sea” campaign. But there are, as is so often the case, ramifications. Continue reading

Weaving a web of education

In his New Year’s message, inaugurating 2010 as the Year of the Seafarer, Admiral Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), identified three goals for the year: Continue reading

Shocked and ashamed by training ‘deficiencies’

Experience has taught us that most casualties are cause by a human agency. It is possible that we need to train seafarers to handle different tasks in a different way. The use of lifesaving equipment is one example. Continue reading

Keep the comments coming

Whilst this blogging game is pretty new to me, I have been delighted to see the growing number of comments that have come from serving Masters and seafarers and welcome further response in addition to the comments we have already received.

One of our objectives is to encourage discussion of maritime safety and training of seafarers, and the best way to do this is to communicate with all of you on a daily basis. To enhance training advocacy, we need your input. Keep it coming! Continue reading

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