June 2005

LEADING maritime training provider Videotel Marine International, working in conjunction with the International Maritime Organisation and a number of leading international port security authorities, has produced an interactive, computer-based training course which could form the basis of official Port Facility Security Officer (PFSO) accreditation, as called for under the International Ship & Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.

The course is divided into eight modules, each with its own test section so that users can assess their level of understanding before proceeding to the next section. The information is creatively presented and is both visually stimulating and easy to navigate, using a combination of video, animation, graphics, audio and text.

On completion of the course, the user will be able to undertake a formal assessment which, depending on local government requirements, could form the basis of official PFSO accreditation.

Videotel has also produced a video, again in association with IMO, for port workers covering global port security and the potential threats faced by ports throughout the world. The 'Know Your Port' video highlights the fundamental security requirements and potential threats faced by all ports today. It takes a strong narrative approach and comprises a number of straightforward chapters adopting a wide variety of film techniques.

Len Holder, chairman of Videotel, says, "The training course and the video operate in harmony to provide a complete training package designed to increase awareness and to improve security in ports throughout the world."

Videotel president William O'Neil, meanwhile, notes, "Port security is paramount in today's international shipping industry. The world - and indeed the shipping industry - is now perceived as a more dangerous place than it was previously. There have been instances of terrorists targeting ships while in port, and of port workers being threatened and injured.

"More is now demanded from shipping, both by international law and by industry regulation, in terms of ensuring that the threat of terrorism is properly and professionally addressed. Lives will depend on how the shipping industry responds to the threat, and that response cannot be truly effective unless there are sufficient numbers of properly trained personnel able to monitor and enforce the regulations. Education, as always, has a crucial role to play."

Both the CBT course and the video have been produced with the assistance of a number of governmental and regulatory bodies and leading commercial organisations, including BIMCO, the UK Department of Transport, Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Canada Maritime, Maersk, CP Ships and the TT Club.

Videotel Marine International is the market leader in the provision of quality computer, video and DVD-based training packages and courses in many languages for the maritime industry. The company provides training packages through long-term library rental schemes. Videotel currently offers over 600 titles, including a range of flag state-approved distance learning courses. Many of the Marine Video and Computer Based Training Packages offered by Videotel Marine International are recognised by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) as contributing to an individual member's Professional Development requirements.

Videotel president warns of chronic maritime recruitment problem

William O'Neil, president of leading maritime training provider Videotel Marine International, has again warned that the international shipping industry is facing a chronic recruitment problem, and that the maritime industries need to attract more young people to seafaring as a career.

O'Neil, former Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation, says, "The shipping industry underestimates at its peril the vital importance of ensuring a regular supply of properly trained, appropriately motivated professional seafarers. It makes no sense to continue to build bigger, more sophisticated ships if we have not put in place the training infrastructure needed to produce the skilled seafarers to operate them.

"All ships need competent crews, but the potential gap between the optimum position for the industry and the reality of the situation is arguably most alarming in terms of specialist ships such as gas and chemical tankers. These ships have remarkably good safety records which are directly related to the quality of the officers and seafarers who operate them. But they also have complicated operating systems which, in unskilled hands, could increase the potential for serious accidents. And while there is certain to be an increase in the numbers of such ships being built, can anybody be equally certain that the industry will be able to produce in sufficient numbers the seafarers equipped with the necessary skills to man them? It seems unlikely, unless more training opportunities are created, and those opportunities maximised."

O'Neil says the shipping industry needs to work harder to attract and keep the quality people it needs, but he acknowledges that there are now more extraneous factors than ever before which could impact against a substantial growth in the core, seafaring workforce. "The continued increase in national, regional and international laws and regulations affecting shipping and seafarers threatens to render shipping a less attractive vocation than at any time in the history of the industry," he says. "And the trend towards the criminalisation of seafarers - whether for security-related motives or as a result of political pressure to apportion blame in respect of pollution incidents - will discourage conscientious officers from accepting more senior responsibilities. No sanction should be introduced which would discourage people from becoming recruits to the maritime profession or from accepting positions of higher responsibility once in the chain of command. We need all the good people we can get and, once we have them, we need to keep them."