The first 9 months of 2009 was indeed a challenging time for ISN-TC.  Increased numbers of trainees and applicants for assessments were administered since the addition of training equipment and training areas.

The main reason for the increase of activity was due to the increasing number of ships in the ISN fleet and sister companies. Another reason is the increased training demand due to changes of International Regulations and improvement in ship’s equipment, hardware and software. ISNTC has now a total of 74 computers for instructors and trainees.

ISNTC has also added courses and made revisions or updates to existing courses. New courses are being developed like the GMDSS, as equipment already came recently from Japan. Ballast water management course is soon to be launched. LRIT module and Video Data Recorder System is also to be developed.

Port State Control inspections had become tougher, particularly in the Great Lakes trade.

Time is changing and therefore ship’s training requirement. ISN-TC established years ago and following the ISO9001 quality system, complying with requirement of flag states, is geared for responding to required changes and continuous improvements in the training activities.

Some of the issues that ISN-TC instill into the mind of trainees are: not only to follow the ISM and STCW codes but also how to make the charterers and shipowners happy, and details of how to avoid problems like ship being detained, how to avoid accidents, how to avoid delays, how to avoid mistakes in their work, how to minimize costs, in short- how to be efficient, effective, be a good leader or be a good team member on board and be a good seaman. Tough!  –yes, but this is a challenge for the ISN-TC team that work on it with confidence and satisfaction.

This year, many training equipment at ISNTC received and many are upgraded to higher standard. Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) was upgraded to the latest version. ISNTC purchased additional one (1) Raytheon Integrated Bridge Console (IBS) equipment and was delivered last 2 October 2009. Shipment comprises of three (3) wooden crates- the IBS Console Left, IBS Center and IBS Right. This will be added to the existing three top of the line Raytheon bridge Simulators in the world and running with the latest version of TRANSAS navigational software.

We received the first shipment of the new crane equipment from Mac-GREGOR, consignment includes the CRANE Foundation and Cabin with a new electrical and hydraulic system that will assist in development of skills about the crane electrical control system and application of Programmable Logic Controller.

This month, we expect to receive the second shipment as soon as released by the Philippines Custom. The second shipment is composed of the CRANE Electric. Initial soil testing had been conducted prior to the actual construction of PRACSITE 2 where the new CRANE Equipment will be housed.

ISNTC was selected by MAN B&W and Hartmann Group of Shipping Companies to have the engine simulator for MAN-B&W 6S40ME-B. This simulator is the only one in the world. This is very useful for the engineers joining the ships with the MAN B&W engine with 2 strokes at 6810KW at 146rpm with a MEP of 21 bars. This economical ME-B engine utilizes a camshaft operated exhaust valve and an electronically controlled fuel-injection system as seen with the ME-C range. The simulator guides the trainee on the engine concept and operation.

Recent courses developed:

The ISN-TC regular courses with many attendees are the following:

Ship Security Officer, Competency Courses for Ratings, Bosuns, OICs and Management Level Officers, ECDIS, CRANE Operation, Hazmat, Administration Officer, AMOS-W. We have also training in Tanker Vetting, Maritime Security Awareness, etc.

Subjects like CHARTCO with meteorological software, Energy Savings, Cargo Hold cleaning are now complementary to competency courses.

At present, there are forty nine (49) ISN pre-sea cadets enrolled at ISNTC. Twenty six (26) of them are BS Marine Transportation graduates while twenty three (23) are BS Marine Engineering graduates. They passed a series of ISNTC tests and were selected by Capt. Rene Dzicki at ISNTC. These cadets stay at the ISN-TC Pracsite Boarding house, a few meters from the ISNTC main building. This gives them the opportunity for intensive training even at night.

Their instructors are those who recently disembarked from ISN vessels.  These Cadets are expected to graduate on 19^th of February 2010 next year and will be boarding the vessels soon. These cadets join the ISN’s Cadet Program totaling now to 1,216 cadets.

A department of ISNTC, the Multimedia Development Center or MDC which was created recently is now working in the conversion of classroom courses for online activity. Many courses are converted using the KnowledgePresenter authoring tool and are uploaded in the Magellan Academy of Shipping and Transport (www.mast-edu.eu). Some of the materials are free for viewing but some needs passwords given by shipping companies or by enrolling in it for a fee. The Learning Management System is controlled at ISN in Cyprus.