The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Svitzer Regional Training Centre was opened officially in Freeport yesterday, positioning Grand Bahama and the Bahamas as a leading centre for maritime training in the region.

Svitzer is the global leader within towage and emergency response, providing safety and support at sea since 1833. Its training facility will provide simulator training for mariners, including captains and harbour pilots, in the Bahamas and elsewhere within the Caribbean.

With major maritime operations such as BORCO, the Freeport Container Port, Grand Bahama Shipyard, Statoil and Freeport Harbour – the largest deep-water harbour in the region – in addition to its convenient geographic location, it was felt that Freeport was the ideal place for such a training centre.

Hope Strachan, State Minister for the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, believes that Svitzer’s presence in the Bahamas will help to provide critical training for growth, development and safety in the maritime sector.

“We recognise that training is one of the most critical components to achieving this goal,” she said.

Technological advances like the simulator, trainee exposure to international standards of operation and best practices is the best way, according to Mrs Strachan, to ensure productivity and efficiency in the maritime industry.

She noted that the maritime sector is an important plank in the country’s economic model and indicated that public consultation will soon begin on a draft maritime policy, which seeks to provide a framework for sustainable exploitation of the country’s ocean resource in energy, fisheries, science and technology, shipping and tourism.

Marinus Lorwa, Chief Operating Officer of Svitzer Americas, hopes that the training facility will be the preferred location for towage training in the region. He said simulator training would be provided by its own skilled Bahamian professionals employed at its operations at Statoil in Grand Bahama.

“Locating the facility in Freeport was a vote of confidence in the maturity of our Bahamas organisation, the importance of Grand Bahama island and the entire maritime sector of the Bahamas,” Mr Lorwa said.

“We expect that the simulator will greatly benefit operations at Freeport Harbour by allowing continuous training of pilots and captains in many possible conditions of operations. Similarly, we expect to offer training to other parties in the US, Latin-America and the Caribbean,” he said.

In 2012, Svitzer acquired 100 per cent ownership of Statoil South Riding Point terminal in east Grand Bahama. The company has a fleet of six tugs and 50 professionals on staff. The company provides modern towage for AP Moller-Maersk Group, one of the largest shipping groups in the world.

“Because of the presence of the simulator, at Svitzer Americas we have decided to locate in Freeport our Regional Training Centre, further expanding the scope of the training and therefore making Freeport the focal point of training initiatives at the regional level,” he said.

Emanuele Gariboldi, Head of Commercial Department, Svitzer Americas said the Bahamas maritime industry provides vast career opportunities for Bahamians.

“With this training facility we are laying another important foundation to the cornerstone of the Bahamian maritime cluster and I am pleased to see that so many stakeholders from Government and local industry are here to prove that it is a team effort and we are all partnering in moving the industry forward,” he said.

Gariboldi indicated that operations such as Freeport Harbour, BORCO, the Shipyard and South Riding Point are major contributors to the economy of Grand Bahama and the Bahamas.

He stressed the importance of port safety and that Bahamians are just as capable as others are in international jurisdictions of doing the job safely.

“If this training facility, if this simulator can contribute to our colleagues performing their job better or just a bit more safely, if joint training of our captains and the harbour pilots can benefit the operation in Freeport Harbour, at Statoil and in the country, then I think we would have contributed to the growth and success of the maritime industry in this nation,” he said.