Seypec sends 14 new recruits on pre-sea training in Sri Lanka |20 July 2018
A new batch of young Seychellois seafarers will be embarking on a six-week pre-sea training programme at the Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC) in Sri Lanka.
The fourteen new recruits were presented with their certificates and flight tickets yesterday by the Seychelles Petroleum Company Limited (Seypec).
The selected candidates are Emmanuella Volcy (cook), Alvin Louise, Anthony Cadence, Damien Bonte, Dominique Rose, Dwayne Sinon, Gino Lesperance, Hamza Charlot, Joshua Joubert, Lawrence Maillet, Miguel Savy, Tariq Khan, Valentino Gabriel and Wills Malvina.
After undergoing a rigorous and competitive selection process, the 14 students are now embarking on the next stage in their seafarer’s career.
Following their selection, the students had attended courses locally at the Seychelles Maritime Academy (SMA) during the first part of this year and this certification made them eligible to progress to the second phase of their six-week pre-sea training at CINEC.
Seypec prides itself on its commitment to the education and training of a new creed of Seychellois seafarers.
Since the start of this unique human resource development project in 2014, 77 young Seychellois seafarers have thus benefited from this career-launching training.
The 2018 recruits come from various backgrounds and fields of study and have shown a keen interest to pursue their chosen career as mariners.
During their studies in Sri Lanka, they will be given general knowledge relating to the shipping industry, engineering, navigation and extensive workshop practical modules giving them a holistic understanding of all vessel handling skills and duties.
Upon completion of the pre-sea training, they will be placed on board deep sea going vessels as seafarers to obtain sea time.
The chief executive of Seypec, Conrad Benoiton, said: “I cannot emphasise enough the powerful position and importance of that professional guild for our young compatriots. When they would have crossed this first stage, they would then join the other Seychellois mariners who are doing an efficient job of our tanker fleet. This project is in line with our vision to ensuring the availability of suitably qualified and trained Seychellois marine personnel. We now expect these young people to take this unique opportunity with commitment and dedication as seafaring staff members. We expect them to perform this role with impeccable skill day in, day out, by upholding our core values of professionalism, integrity and respect.”
The initiative to create a group of fully trained and experienced Seychellois with a new class of expertise has been entirely funded by the company since 2014.
This project of a comprehensive career development plan of the future seafarers is aimed at creating added value to the marine sector of Seychelles and inspiring more young people to join the industry.
“We are ploughing to ensure this recruitment. We focus on encouraging young people to consider seafaring professions when making choices concerning their careers or their further education. We thrive to show them that seafaring is a viable, attractive and exciting career option. Many promising young Seychellois must be aware that a career on our tankers is a unique blend of variety encompassed in a single domain. With such an option they can combine a lot of different facets and acquire a lot of exposure in terms of professionalism, adaptability and travel,” Mr Benoiton added.
Members of this fifth cohort of seafarers leaving for Sri Lanka are embarking on a journey that will lead them to a universally recognised professional status. As Seypec affirms its faith in the upgrading of Seychellois seafarers, these trainees will benefit from all conditions to further develop their skills on the job together with continuous training to one day attain top positions on Seypec tankers as Masters, First Officers and Chief Engineers.
This new group leaves the country over the weekend.