Evaluating Maritime Education and Training Needs For Tanker Shipping Companies

Abstract

Maritime transport is often termed as the backbone of globalization. The quick advancement of this multi-complex phenomenon and the respective growth of commerce, have also contributed into a substantial increase in the number of ships operating at sea. In turn, this has the potential to cause a proportional rise in maritime accidents, with negative impacts both to human life and the marine environment. Tankers, as important as they may be for seaborne transportation, are associated with considerable risks because of the nature of the cargoes they carry, with petroleum products standing out. During the transportation task, including the handling of cargo and especially loading/unloading, operations involved must be carried out in a fault-free fashion. "Cutting corners", or oversight of the established safety rules, could form the basis of truly devastating outcomes. When analyses of maritime accidents over time are carefully examined, a fact that remains constant is that human factors still remain the prime cause of those events. Considering this fact together with the increase in number of tankers that was previously pointed out, it is evident that improving the operational performance of seafarers via tailor made training has an utmost importance; ensuring the quality of current maritime education and training offerings is also another vital task. Taking all necessary measures to ensure the safe conduct of navigation is one of the major tasks of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The organization fulfils this task through the provisions of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention, working together with the so called IMO model courses. Due to the very high risks involved in tankers' operations, seafarers employed in this type of ships need to perform well above the accepted standards set by the IMO. Relying on minimum standards cannot provide a reliable solution and special mandatory training should also be integrated for personnel on tanker ships, in accordance off course with STCW. In an effort to ensure that the crew on board tankers has all the necessary competences to perform at the highest level of safety, tanker companies should provide additional trainings to crew members via an "internal training program", after recruiting them and before being assigned official duties on board the ship. The analysis in hand focuses on the compulsory tanker trainings established by the STCW Convention, in conjunction with additional trainings commonly offered by tanker shipping companies. The study will firstly identify and briefly discuss all mandatory trainings listed in the convention. It will then investigate the contents of the special training courses to assess their conformity with the overall aims of the STCW Convention and especially evaluate their expected learning outcomes. The results showed that a great majority of maritime shipping accidents have been caused by operational mistakes and errors as well as lack of knowledge of the crew. Safety of ships, quality of the crew and companies and environmental protection can be sustained only through training. This study was conducted through a Descriptive Research Methodology approach and methods of data collection have been literature review and review of compulsory tanker trainings, as well as analysis of accident reports.