New offshore training institute featured at maritime expo
The recently commissioned and locally owned Atlantic Alliance Maritime and Offshore Training Institute Guyana was among several companies that participated in this year’s Maritime Day observance exhibition at Arthur Chung Convention Centre at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown on Thursday.
This year’s theme for Maritime Day is “New Technologies for Greener Shipping”. It aims to highlight the need to support the industry in transitioning to be greener in order to support a sustainable future.
Focused on advancing technological training for Guyanese, the institution is using stimulators and a digital radiography (DR) system for its courses, Asif Hamid, the Managing Partner for AA Maritime told the News Room.
“We are going to be setting up the DR system and we are going to be having students get the opportunity to sail a ship virtually before getting on board so our Cadet Officers and our guys that are doing different courses and bridge team management and simulator courses, we have all those simulator courses,” Hamid explained.
The systems were on display with many interested persons flocking the booth. The stimulator is supposed to give the illusion that persons are steering the boat and is used in proficiency in survival craft and rescue boats (PSCRB) one of several courses offered at the AA Maritime institution.
Hamid said, “AA is the first institution that introduced it because of the booming economy and oil and gas and all these different types of vessels and the local content policy in place, students and workers are now getting into the oil and gas industry and into the marine now have to be equipped to use this equipment.”
The institution can provide learners with internationally recognised certification, he further noted.
Meanwhile, Rashiena Ogle explained that some of the projects the Guyana Marine Conservation Society has embarked on. One such project is to equip young women living in Region One with knowledge of flying drones and with skills to earn money.
“We are taking girls out of the communities in Region One and have them trained in drone operations. Having completed that drone training, they can then export their services and the data they collect and the pictures that they take of the mangrove cuttings and water and so on, they can then export that information to organisations like EPA and the Guyana Forestry Commission to earn and income,” Ogle explained.
She said this project is an excellent opportunity for them to gain income through the use of technology. She said that other projects include teaching them to make crafts.
Westzyde Marine Inc. is focused on the Paris Climate Agreement which aims to achieve global climate reduction in emissions by 2050. Guyana has signed this agreement.
Sonia Charran, the company’s Marine coordinator said “Some of the things that we are offering in theme, which is a greener marine environment, would be four-stroke engines because they offer cleaner burn and fewer emissions for the environment.”
Meanwhile, the employee relations coordinator at El Dorado Offshore said, “EDO has been able to adapt a hybrid system which allows us to function almost 100 percent remotely that means that we work from our homes so there’s less day to day commute, less gas emissions and we have also developed many new systems and technology that allows us to keep almost all of our services virtual.”