Channel Familiarisation, HELM, and VTS training courses to support region's ports and shipping companies.
Abu Dhabi, UAE: Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC), the Port Authority for Abu Dhabi's non-oil commercial and community ports, has today announced that its Ports Training Centre will broaden its training course offering, in 2013, as it seeks to become a regional training hub for port and maritime professionals.
The ADPC Ports Training Centre currently offers training programmes that include: Channel Familiarisation; Pilot and Tug Master training.
The Channel Familiarisation course is the main programme currently offered externally and is a navigation training course for Masters of vessels to train, on a state-of-the-art ship handling simulator, on how to safely navigate the new 53 km Musaffah channel in Abu Dhabi. Currently over 400 Masters have been trained on this course.
The ADPC Ports Training Centre also utilises the simulator to provide invaluable training for ADPC pilots looking to update their skills and to prepare for piloting some of the new and often larger vessels, entering into Khalifa and Musaffah Ports the first time. Pilots are able to plan the passage and determine the best tug configuration before the ship arrives.
In April, an additional course is set to be aimed at and offered to ships' officers - the Human Element - Leadership and Management course, or HELM.
A five-day course, HELM will become a compulsory training requirement for all senior ships' officers by 2017; however, most local charterers and ship-owners are demanding that their officers take the course immediately, so it is already a course expected to attract keen interest when the training course becomes available, from the second quarter of 2013.
In addition, a modern VTS simulator is currently being installed in order to train ADPC port control officers to international standards. The training courses will also be offered to other ports in the region and will become part of ADPC's drive to recruit more Emirati school leavers and prepare them for a port related career in Abu Dhabi ports.
Capt. Mohamed Al Shamisi, Executive Vice President, Ports, ADPC, and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Terminals said:
"With state-of-the-art simulators and the most up to date industry training courses available, ADPC Ports Training Centre stands ready to serve not just the educational interests of Abu Dhabi's and the UAE's ports and shipping industry, but the ambition is for it to grow, target and establish itself as a regionally recognised centre of excellence for the training of ports officers and other maritime professionals."
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Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC)
As a master developer and regulator of ports and industrial zones in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, ADPC's core objective is to facilitate the diversification of Abu Dhabi's economy by stimulating development and trade. It supports partners' infrastructure projects and sets up new companies and joint ventures in the ports and industrial zones sectors.
The company's AED 26.5 billion (USD 7.2 billion) megaproject - the flagship Khalifa Port and Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) - has been designed to be flexible to reflect market needs. Kizad was launched to market in 2010, and the whole of Khalifa Port was inaugurated on 12/12/12 by UAE President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The port's semi-automated container terminal, unique in a radius of 5000 kilometres, was launched on September 1st, 2012. Khalifa Port is now handling all of Abu Dhabi's TEU container traffic, after its transfer from Mina Zayed, the historic port in the city centre.
Phase One of Khalifa Port has a capacity of 2.5 million container units, plus 12 million tons of cargo. Further phases of development will occur as market demand requires. With all phases complete, Khalifa Port will be able to handle 15 million containers and 35 million tons of cargo per year.
For more information please visit our website www.adpc.ae
Or contact:
Akram Kanso
International Media Relations Consultant | Corporate Communication
PO Box 54477 Abu Dhabi, UAE
Telephone +971 (0)2 695 2982
Mobile
+971 (0)50 4260365
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+971 (0)2 695 2111
Press Release 2013
