Learn to speak ECDIS
Furuno, the Japanese marine electronics specialists, have announced that their NavSkills network is to be expanded with new training facilities opening in the UAE and Italy. Furuno’s training is type specific and ensures that navigators can safely and efficiently operate their latest ECDIS units.
Furuno’s long-term exclusive distributor Imtech Marine/Radio Holland Middle East, have set up a training facility in their building in the emirate of Sharjah. Imtech/RHME is currently the only NavSkills centre in the Middle East.
The vision of Imtech/RHME is to offer its customers a full package solution, covering equipment sales, installation, service and now, crucially, operator training. The location is in one of the primary hubs of the tanker industry and it is foreseen that the possibility of offering training in connection with crew changes can be a great benefit to the tanker industry. The fact that other shipping segments are growing in the area will only support the efforts and provide further opportunities.
Imtech/RHME training centre is currently able to provide training on both the FEA-2X07 and FMD-3200/3300 ECDIS models, with a capacity of 4 simultaneous FEA-trainees and 2 FMD-trainees.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Furuno has announced that Thesi Consulting training centre has also become a part of the NavSkills network. Located in the city of Mola di Bari on the Adriatic coast Thesi is a family operated training centre that has established itself as one of the prime training facilities in Italy, building on many years of seagoing experience. Thesi have set up a Furuno ECDIS training solution with 4 FEA-2X07 and 2 FMD-3200/3300 trainee workstations, identical to the one in the UAE.
The NavSkills network is founded on the principle that the ship operator, in order to obtain the most benefit from having its navigators trained, can find a training centre that offers type specific training on a Furuno ECDIS, identically delivered worldwide both in contents and instructions, close to where the navigators are sourced from. This will most likely bridge any possible language barriers and provide for a knowledge level of the bridge team.
While all the training material is in English, the benefit of having a trained instructor speaking the students’ native language will allow for question and answers to be conducted more fully. Furuno claim that this fact will elevate the individual navigator’s competence to a completely new level, making him more capable at performing his duties.
With Furuno’s own two INS Training Centers and the 10 NavSkills network training centres, this type specific ECDIS training can now be found in locations throughout the world: Copenhagen, Singapore, Hamburg, Athens, Istanbul, Manila, Mumbai, Shanghai, Odessa, and now Shajah and Mola di Bari. Pivot Maritime, Australia, is due to come on stream in the near future to complete this worldwide coverage.
By Jake Frith
