The MatPal Maritime Institution on Wednesday announced plans to train mariners for the oil and gas industry, as 47 sailors graduated from a two-week workshop.
Cognisant of the fact that training in the area of oil and gas was now vital, the MatPal Institution related that plans were moving full steam ahead so that the mariners would become knowledgeable.
The announcement was made at the Transport and Harbours Department’s head office in Kingston, Georgetown during a simple graduation ceremony for the 47 sailors, who recently completed the training in various fields related to safety management at sea, among other areas.
MatPal Administrator Coleen Abrams said, “It is our aim to, in the very near future, to begin offering [Tropical Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency
From left seated: MatPal Administrator Coleen Abrams, Captain Derrick Erstine, and Transport and Harbours Department Manager Marcelene Merchant
Training] T-BOSIET and other safety training specifically geared for persons embarking on being employed within Guyana’s oil and gas industry and so, even as that materialises we will keep the public informed and we will keep having engagement with companies that are seeking to make their entrance into the oil and gas industry.”
She added that the training would be vital to not only locals but foreign employees of oil giant ExxonMobil.
“For persons working onboard the supply vessels, contracted by ExxonMobil as well as the drill ships that are also contracted by ExxonMobil. There is a level of training that is required for them, while we do the safety training at MatPal Marine, because of the volatility of the crew, of the cargo that is carried onboard by those vessels,” Abrams added.
The training sessions for the sailors who graduated were held between April and May as a result of a partnership between MatPal and the Transport and Harbours Department.
It is aimed at developing the capacity of sailors in various departments of the Transport and Harbours Department.
The mariners were trained in basic safety, ship security awareness, survival and safety and several other areas.
The Administrator of the Department stressed the importance of training as she noted there were several areas, such as safety management which often required attention.
“For the group of persons who have been trained so far, they will function on board of the ferries of the Transport and Harbours Department plying the routes of the Rosignol to New Amsterdam crossing, the Parika to Supenaam crossing as well as the Georgetown to Vreed-en-Hoop crossing. Those persons will function in the capacities as with the bowmen, speedboat operators and captains, ordinary sailors, coxswains, able body seamen, engineers as well as deck officers,” she informed.
