Online package – eight hour training course
Alewijnse Marine Systems has launched a Raytheon Anschütz Online ECDIS Familiarisation Course, the first of its kind. The course enables navigators to complete their official ECDIS training online for Raytheon Anschütz ECDIS. One of the first customers for this service will be Vliet Shipping, which currently has two 3850 DWT coasters in build at Damen Bergum to which Alewijnse will fit Raytheon Anschütz bridge systems.
The Alewijnse online package will allow the navigators to undertake an eight hour training course remotely on the internet. They will be able to log in at any time and then pause whenever they wish, as long as they complete the course within three weeks. A credit card login ensures that the person is actually who they claim to be, and the result is an approved familiarisation certificate for the Raytheon Anschütz ECDIS.
The rationale for this new service is that while navigators already require an STCW 1.27 ECDIS certificate, these may be several years old and taken on a different ECDIS system from the one with which they are now sailing. As ECDIS systems manufactured by different brands often have different HMIs (human-machine interfaces), qualified navigators on new vessels may find themselves using a different ECDIS system to the one on which they trained, creating a potential risk before they have fully familiarised themselves with their new system. Indeed a wide range of regulatory regimes including STCW, ISM Code, Port State Controls and many flag states require that navigation officers are fully familiar with the ECDIS onboard before a ship leaves port.
This online course saves shipping operators the costs of airline tickets and hotels, as well as time-consuming organisational issues, by avoiding the need to send employees to possibly distant training centres, and it is estimated that up to 500,000 ships’ officers require training of this sort.
As a leading electrical integrator Alewijnse is committed to devising innovative electrical engineering solutions that deliver real value to ship owners and operators. The new ECDIS training course demonstrates the Group’s dedication to delivering complete installation and commissioning packages that consider every aspect of the project from concept design right through to training and implementation.
Source: Alewijnse Marine Systems
