Seypec endorses 6th group of young seafarers to train at Cinec |24 August 2019
Gavin Domingue accepting the travel documents on behalf of his colleagues
As customary each year since the launch of the young Seychellois seafarers career training programme in 2014, the Seychelles Petroleum Company (Seypec) is once again sending a group of young recruits to pursue their pre-sea training at the Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (Cinec), Sri Lanka.
The twelve young men and two young women who completed their basic Standard Training Certification and Watch-Keeping (STCW) pre-training at the Seychelles Maritime Academy (SMA) during the past weeks, received their travelling documents from the chief executive of Seypec, Conrad Benoiton, during a short ceremony held yesterday afternoon at the Seypec premises, New Port. It was Gavin Domingue who collected the travel documents on behalf of his colleagues.
Present were the interim director of the SMA, Captain Krishan Perera, Seypec staff members, parents and guarantors.
This is the 6th cohort to follow the six-week pre-sea training at Cinec. Upon completion they will be engaged on a nine-month training on the deck and engine operations of the Seypec fleet of tankers and also on thirteen other tankers belonging to the German Shipping department. It will also be an opportunity for them to gain sea time.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Benoiton told the young seafarers to uphold their commitments which are being supported by Seypec and their families.
“We fully understand the importance of well-trained seafarers, which is why we are committed to recruiting and training of cadets as part of our comprehensive career development programme since 2014,” Mr Benoiton said.
“We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and competence of our recruits to be international seafarers. A company cannot survive without people and therefore this commitment of welcoming them within the Seypec family is all about quantifying the essence of human resourcing values of Seypec. Our people own the company, they take care of it. This is why we have this intake of new students to train them and to make them become masters of their own destiny,” Mr Benoiton said, noting that the seafarers should show discipline in their training and after.
The 6th cohort will leave for Colombo on Monday August 26 accompanied by the Seypec crew manager, Alain Asba.
During the short ceremony, Captain Perera presented the students with their STCW certificates.
The pre-sea course training in deck and engine at Cinec includes both theory and practical applications and is fully sponsored by Seypec. It is part of a three-month syllabus were the students will cover 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 prior to specialisation.
The active recruitment drive by Seypec is part of its long-term goal to fully localise the manning of its tanker fleet by 2024 and also to have at least one tanker manned entirely by a Seychellois crew by 2020.
Nifa Moumou, a former 25-year-old arts teacher from Plaisance secondary school, said that navigation was one of her dreams in her younger days and that now she is very happy to start fulfilling that dream which was her third choice of study after secondary school. She aspired to be a captain on one of the tankers one day.
Her colleague, 19-year-old Christ Cecile, said that he also dreamed of working on a tanker in his younger days. He aspires to be an officer onboard. Both students said that as a team they will make the most of the given opportunity and to come out as successful graduates.
