Maritime CEO

Seagull: Training flap

 

Horten: Many shipowners are scrambling to comply with incoming legislation, bamboozled with too many new regulations flying in, says the boss of one of the top training programme developers.
 
Roger Ringstad, managing director of Norway’s Seagull, tells Maritime CEO that the huge focus on ECDIS training has blinded many to other inbound rulings, most notably the Manila amendment to STCW which becomes effective in January next year, which calls for crews to be trained in security matters.
 
“We developed something for this in 2011,” relates Ringstad, “but we have found out so many clients have not prepared for this, as they have been so focused on ECDIS training. A lot of companies are in a rush to train their crews in security matters.”
 
Ringstad, a master mariner, adds: “Shipping companies can be surprised by impending legislation. These days there’s more training and legislation than ever.”
 
Seagull was founded in 1996, developing training programmes for shipping. Ringstad joined three years later, initially in a sales capacity. He became managing director a few years later. When he joined Seagull programmes were installed on 200 ships, today they are spread across 8,200 vessels.
 
Ringstad says Seagull’s only competitor is the UK’s Videotel, a company he admits is bigger, but not necessarily better.
 
“We are fairly confident that we are better than them in our softer solutions,” Ringstad says, “in terms of recording training and also our software product, Competence Manager, launched in 2005.”  [16/05/13]
 

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