‘There is a gap at the moment in training,’ Marinos Kokkinis, MD, OneLearn Global, told Seatrade Cruise.
OLG’s roadmap is to design the necessary courses in a year’s time when there is more clarity on the fuel types likely to be employed, ‘We need to see where the industry is heading,’ he stated.
OLG aims to develop learning plans tailored to the technical and safety requirements of green-fuelled ships, utilising e-learning simulators to support these efforts.
Basic safety training elements will cover new fuels, focusing on alternative propulsion systems, energy management, and safety protocols.
‘If you have vessels that are running on hydrogen, for example, or blue and grey methanol, you need new sets of skills. These skills cannot be covered just by elearning, they need to be solid and long-term trainings,’ Kokkinis added.
CCS encouraged
COLUMBIA Cruise Services, which is currently providing services to over 40 cruise ships and superyachts, is encouraged by the training OLG is aiming to provide, ‘New fuels call for different systems on board vessels,’ said CCS MD Hendrik Stellamanns. ‘We have to look at each and every type of vessel and offer our clients specific advice on what they can do and where they might retrofit systems to make the entire ship more efficient - heat recovery systems, for example or air conditioning. You then need crew that are properly trained to use the required machinery.’
Upskilling
‘The advantage we see with OLG is the sheer volume and amount of training that can be provided, and in a different way,’ said Stellamanns. ‘I like to see it, for example, for the younger generation of seafarers, as a fun platform where you can find all sorts of trainings: soft skills, more technical trainings, and where you can do webinars and simulator training. That really multiplies what you can offer to all the different crew members you have on board, being of different nationalities, generations and with varying levels of experience. This is what's so important for us right now.’
ESG
OLG also intends to provide coaching in ESG, ‘In general, crews’ perception of ESG is, what is ESG? Why is green energy important? And everybody has a different perspective. So we're trying to bring in some soft skills training around ESG,’ explained Kokkinis.
‘In general, everyone in the cruise industry is sensitive, and pushing for anything that can support their ESG goals,’ Julia Siebert, CCO, COLUMBIA blue and MD COLUMBIA Cruise Services revealed. ‘Our service portfolio is getting wider and wider. We are building on becoming a 360-degree maritime service platform offering a range of services according to the appetite of our clients, to help and to support.’
In her view, what OLG is proposing is ‘one of the important puzzle pieces heading towards the future.’
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