JAPAN’S leading shipowners, along with the industry association, are investigating the donation of a large training vessel to the national maritime training and education body.
NYK Line, MOL, ‘K’ Line and the Japanese Shipowners’ Association have initiated “concrete discussions” in recognition of the critical importance of training and securing highly skilled Japanese seafarers to maintain and further develop maritime transport.
The Japan Agency of Maritime Education and Training for Seafarers has been facing various challenges, according to a report by a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism study group.
In the medium term JMETS is dealing with an unstable financial foundation, fewer actual on-board training days due to escalating fuel costs, shortages of instructors and crew, and the issue of accommodating students with varying proficiency levels and qualification goals on the same training vessel.
“These factors make it challenging for JMETS to provide sufficient on-board training, and additionally JMETS is also facing the issue of aging training vessels and school buildings. Considering these circumstances affecting JMETS, our industry has decided to begin exploring the donation of a large-sized training vessel to actively support the steady progress of JMETS’s medium-term reforms based on MLIT’s study group report,” the companies and JSA said in a joint release today [21 July].
The first step will be to examine the concrete specifications for the training vessel and engage in discussions with shipyards, aiming for completion around 2030.
“We sincerely hope that JMETS’s reforms will progress steadily based on the MLIT study group’s report, and that our donation of this training ship will contribute to the healthy and stable development of training and securing highly skilled Japanese seafarers.”
JMETS is Japan’s principal institution for seafarer education and training. It operates eight maritime schools and maintains a fleet of five large training vessels nationwide.