Published on 27 Jul 2022
Captain Gurpreet Singh Ahluwalia
Director India MTC
BSM has four Maritime Training Centres (MTC) worldwide; the move of its training facility in India from Mumbai to a new state-of-the-art location in Kochi is a sign of BSM’s commitment to continuous investment to ensure the highest standard of training for our seafarers.
Published on 27 Jul 2022
Motivated and highly qualified sea personnel are the backbone of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM). The HR Marine department is working hard to steadily expand the company’s pool of skilled seafarers and thus ensure the safe and efficient operation of the growing fleet under BSM crew management. An important component of the recruitment and qualification strategy is the company’s wholly owned training centres, which must be constantly adapted to meet new industry requirements and technological developments.
The latest development in BSM’s Maritime Training Centres is the relocation of the previous MTC in Mumbai to Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala where it has expanded its footprint approximately fivefold to 24,000 square feet. The new MTC is equipped with modern classrooms facilitating online and offline training. The facilities are supported by the latest technology including fully immersive simulators for bridge, engine, LNG, LPG, chemical, electrical and cargo handling. It also features a fully equipped mechanical workshop, slinging and lifting training facilities, together with a galley and external mooring station. This enables BSM to deliver foundation and ongoing skills improvement programmes for its new and existing seafarers.
The external mooring station is 5,000 square feet, almost the same size of the whole MTC in its former Mumbai location. It brings seafarer training to life through an external promenade with a practical training area that replicates an actual vessel’s mooring deck with all on-board equipment to deliver a range of maritime-focused training.
The new MTC in Kochi has, among other things, a fully equipped workshop as well as a modern galley for the training, education and qualification of kitchen staff onboard:
“The Ship Management Centre, Crew Service Centre and MTC were all operating in the same building in Mumbai, and there was simply no spare capacity for expansion,” says Andrew Hall, HR Marine General Manager at BSM. “With the increasing numbers of seafarers particularly from the Indian region, in order to ensure we continue to deliver the highest quality of training we took the conscious decision to move to new facilities.”
“The move from Mumbai was in order to develop an agile modern training centre in line with BSM’s vision to cater to the maritime industry’s future needs,” says Captain Gurpreet Singh Ahluwalia, Director of India MTC at BSM. “This aids growth and expansion without any limitations for the next decade, enabling us to scale business into new markets.”
The MTC is supported by over 20 employees and has the capability of delivering training to more than 100 seafarers each day, marking a new era for BSM’s maritime training capability in India.
Captain Gurpreet Singh Ahluwalia
Director India MTC
ContactCaptain Gurpreet Singh Ahluwalia
Director India MTC
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