Blue Water Gain MCA Approval for Mallorca Fire Training Centre

Blue water yachting, the ‘one stop shop’ for yacht support services has achieved approval from the MCA for a new fire training centre near Palma in Mallorca, Spain. Modelled on the highly successful fire training centre in Biot, France, the new facility will mean that candidates for MCA STCW95 Crew Basic Training in Mallorca will no longer have to leave the island to carry out the practical fire training. Currently candidates are travelling to Barcelona and even the UK to be trained in Basic Fire Prevention and Fighting.
At the same time the training centre received approval for engineering training. The MCA ‘Approved Engine Course’ can now be run there and in future career engineers will be able to take the MCA ‘Craft Skills Test’ once the new workshop facilities have been finished.
Using modified cargo containers, a ship simulator has been created which is filled with furniture and obstacles. Artificial smoke is pumped into to unit and students, wearing full firemen’s suits and breathing apparatus, have to search inside to find and rescue dummy casualties. The course is designed to promote teamwork and an awareness of the dangers of fire in the marine environment.
Recently some yacht casualties have highlighted the need for better and more convenient yacht crew training. The accident reports into to the loss of Lady Candida and Lands End both mentioned a lack of he most basic safety procedures and significant shortcomings in the safety management systems. One of the most roles of STCW Crew Basic Training is to help generate a ‘culture of safety’ amongst yacht crew.
The approval of new engineering facilities on Mallorca will hopefully help towards overcoming the chronic shortage of yacht engineers. Although these are for running the lowest qualification, the ‘Approved Engine Course’ , (sometimes also referred to as the ‘Assistant Engineer Course’ since it qualifies candidates for that role), Blue Water also run all of the advanced engineering courses on the Island, right the way up to Chief Engineer 9000 kW. In order for there to be enough candidates in the future it is essential that more training be carried out for the lower certificates. This is why the new approval is so important
These approvals mark another milestone in Blue Water’s drive to bring crew training to the places where it is needed. With facilities already on the Cote d’Azur, Viareggio and Fort Lauderdale, in addition to those in Mallorca; Blue Water has plans to develop other sites in areas where yacht crew are based. Since the company also provides yacht management, crew placement, Charter and Brokerage services, these too will be extended as the company expands.
Yacht Management, in particular, has made significant advances over recent months and has a number of new contracts pending. Because of the depth of knowledge required to run a yacht crew training facility it is a natural step to employ this expertise in the field of management. It is one of the key attributes that separates Blue Water form all other yacht companies, none of whom are capable of running crew training, let alone in the range and depth achieved at Blue water.
The innovative and ground-breaking online crew placement database further enhances the position of Blue water as the market leader. For the cost of a couple of regular crew placement yacht captains may search up to 30 000 records to find the CV matches their requirements. They also benefit from the fact that there is quite a good chance that we trained the candidate and therefore have good knowledge of who might be best suited for which job.

For more information contact Lizzie Irving.
Sales and Marketing manager lizzie@bluewateryachting.com