The training vessels are in desperate need

The Director of the Marine Technical Academy named after Admiral D. N. Senyavin  Viktor Nikitin is convinced of this.

Yesterday, a meeting of the Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region Association of Shipbuilders was held in St. Petersburg. Shipbuilders and representatives of maritime educational institutions took part in the event. The main issues of the conference concerned the substitution of import components for Russian solutions. Separate consideration was given to the shortage of personnel for the shipbuilding industry. Last year, the Admiral D. N. Senyavin Marine Technical Academy opened a new field of study within shipbuilding expertise to compensate for the shortage of workers and semi-skilled specialists. The Academy will train professionals in the field of design, construction and repair of various vessel types.

One of the speakers, Viktor Nikitin, the director of the Admiral D. N. Senyavin Marine Technical Academy, noted that, perhaps, future shipbuilders will be able to participate in the designing of training vessels. Today, there is an acute shortage of such vessels needed for the practical training of future seafarers. Also, Nikitin told that in December, the academy cadets will undergo a shipboard practice on vessels operated by the Baltic Shipping Company — the shipowner will provide the opportunity for the cadets of the Admiral D. N. Senyavin Marine Technical Academy to join the crews of five ships. — On December 18, five cadets will begin their navigational practice on board a company's vessel, — he said. — In total, it was agreed that the shipowner will allocate berths for 8 cadets on board 5 of its vessels and will pay them about $500 for the work. In addition, the guys will have a mentor. Viktor Nikitin emphasized that this is the first such experience for the Admiral D. N. Senyavin Marine Technical Academy. The Baltic Shipping Company is so far the only company that has signed such an agreement with the Academy. Meanwhile, more than a thousand cadets are studying at the Academy, so the training vessels are in desperate need. 

He remembered that the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping operated several training ships during his college years. They could accommodate one hundred and fifty cadets on board. So, cadets on board a training vessel Zenit participated in the shipping of general and bulk cargoes. The cadets were learning all the nuances associated with taking cargo on board – its loading, placement, storage, as well as filling and registration of the necessary documents in ports. "We sailed from the Gulf of Bothnia to America. Navigational practice was an invaluable experience for us," - he concluded. "It is necessarily to lay down training vessels, and we should do just now," - he added. The Seafarers' Union of Russia notes that navigational practice is an integral part of the educational process of future navigators, marine engineers and electrical engineers for maritime and inland fleet. It is obligatory for cadets to confirm their academic knowledge and acquire practical skills. Besides, navigational practice provides opportunity to get a sea time necessary for receiving a Certificate of Competence.

By the way, several years ago, following the joint work of the Krylov State Research Center, the Central Research Institute of Marine Physics and the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping, an ice-class training vessel design was created capable to carry about 160 cadets. The project was approved, but the vessel was never built. And on November 20, during a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Anton Alikhanov said that over the next six years, Russian shipyards will have to build more than 1,000 vessels for various purposes. It remains to be hoped that training vessels will be among them.