Author: MSAteam

This year’s Maritime Safety Week event takes place from Monday 4th – 8th July 2022.

The maritime industry and marine environment as a whole poses many dangers and it is vital that people are not only aware of these impending risks but that they also have the knowledge and skills to use and enjoy the water safely.

That is why this week is so important as it produces awareness and highlights the excellent safety work that currently goes on in the Maritime Sector.

Here at the Maritime Skills Academy we help the industry by delivering a new level of marine training, ensuring all delegates are ready to face the seas safely.

The Maritime Safety Action Plan, launched by the Department for Transport highlights the critical maritime safety work done by the government to keep people safe on and around the water. It also sets out a number of actions to achieve ambitious safety targets.

For more details please click here.

A £100m fund has been established to help UK firms capitalise on the boom in offshore wind.

With the UK so well suited to exploiting wind power, turbines have been erected in more than 30 locations from Brighton to the Moray Firth.

But trade unions say the boom has not generated enough jobs for UK workers.

The Offshore Wind Industry Council says its initiative will help hundreds of firms “maximise opportunities” in the offshore wind supply chain.

“The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership will provide practical help for UK companies so they can compete successfully for contracts in this thriving global market,” said Benj Sykes, chairman of the OWIC and UK country manager for the Danish firm Orsted.

The OWIC, which is a joint government and industry body, will invest the privately-raised funds over 10 years to support companies in the supply chain.

Firms that manufacture parts, lay cables and maintain wind farms will receive support ranging from “expert advice on manufacturing and commercialisation” to funding for innovation. They will also be given support to export their products and services.

• Clean electricity overtaking fossil fuels
• First power from world’s biggest wind farm
• UK clinches deal to boost offshore wind

By 2030 the offshore wind power market is expected to be worth £30bn per year, with the UK expected to be generating a third of its electricity from wind. The OWIC hopes to raise the participation of UK businesses in the industry from 48% currently to 60%, under a sector deal agreed between industry and government.

The new fund will bring “investment, thousands of high-quality jobs and huge economic opportunities for communities across the UK”, energy and clean growth minister Chris Skidmore said.

Last month GMB general secretary, Tim Roache said Britain’s politicians needed “to sharpen their elbows in the fight for jobs” when it came to opportunities in the growing renewables sector.

The union says up to 1,000 jobs could be created at two mothballed yards in Fife if EDF chose local firms to manufacture parts for a huge wind farm project there, rather than as is expected the work being done in Indonesia, Belgium and Spain.

Article written by BBC News.

The Maritime Skills Academy (MSA) expands its training centres to the Solent area.

An exciting era is ahead for the MSA, with the expansion of its training portfolio and a new centre opening in Portsmouth in July 2019.

The Viking Maritime Group (including the MSA, Viking Crew and Chiltern Maritime) has identified a highly innovative approach to meeting the specific requirements of the cruise, ferry and superyacht industries for Simulation Training.

A multi-million pound agreement has been reached between Viking Maritime Group (‘Viking’) and Wärtsilä Voyage Solutions (‘Wärtsilä’), formerly known as Transas Marine UK Ltd, to facilitate the development of a new state-of-the-art, purpose-built Simulation Centre in the harmonious setting of the Lakeside North Harbour business hub located near Portsmouth, UK (www.lakesidenorthharbour.com).

This relationship will ensure that the new Simulation Centre is uniquely positioned to service the needs of our cruise, ferry and superyacht clients, being the only commercial provider worldwide to fully integrate the Wärtsilä NACOS Platinum system within the Full Mission Bridge Simulator and associated course provision.

Viking will provide the essential simulation hardware, Wärtsilä will supply and configure the associated software solutions and the centre will be managed by Viking’s subsidiary training organisation, the Maritime Skills Academy (‘MSA’), with technical and maintenance support from Wärtsilä.  MSA will also co-ordinate, manage and deliver any classroom based STCW 2010 training provision required by clients here, as well as at its well-established training facility in Dover, UK.

In developing this new Simulation Centre for operational launch in mid-2019,  Viking and Wärtsilä has had the unique opportunity to collaborate closely with industry personnel in agreeing the desired simulation specifications before the implementation phase, thus achieving the most realistic physical environment and delegate learning experience possible.

Clients will also have the opportunity to liaise closely with our specialist management consultants during development of the various simulation-based courses, ensuring that course content and delivery is well-matched to the simulation facilities, adapted where possible for optimum effectiveness against known industry practice, and aligned with a company’s policies and procedures.

The Viking/Wärtsilä project team is confident that this unique and customised collaboration will both meet the exclusive, bespoke requirements of our cruise, ferry and superyacht industry clients and deliver the high standards and culturally-attuned training provision needed to support achievement of a company’s key objective: delivering the safest and most efficient standards in the industry.

Matthew Jaenicke Managing Director for Viking Maritime Group says “This is one of the most exciting and innovative steps Viking Maritime have taken by expanding not only its training locations but being a pioneer in how we offer simulator training to the maritime world. With the support of Wartsila and listening to client needs, we can provide ship operators with a new business to business training solution”.

“We are very happy to have been involved in the discussions and reach the stage we are at today. We are acquiring a brilliant partner in the form of Viking to deliver exceptional training using our solutions. Viking have identified a specific market niche and it is with great pleasure that we can build our system to support the “as-a-service concept” says Alex Ponomarev, Sales Expert for Wärtsilä Voyage Simulation and Training.

As part of the new centre opening, Chiltern Maritime (the UK’s top ranked Merchant Navy Cadetship provider, offering highly sought after multi-vessel experience and mentoring) will be moving its operation to the new facility. This is an exciting step for Chiltern as it will have world class facilities to showcase for new cadets during interview and induction visits.

Contact Mark Jaenicke Training & Performance Director for more information or to discuss the project on markj@vikingmsa.com or +44 (0)300 303 8393.

Date of Issue: 1st April 2019
Last Edited: 27th August 2024