Training centres

Sovcomflot is developing its own shipboard personnel training system in Russia, in compliance with the very highest international standards. At the heart of this system are the Sovcomflot Training & Engineering Centre (TEC) in St. Petersburg and the Novoship Training Centre in Novorossiysk.

The training centre in St. Petersburg became a licensed educational centre and became operational in 2013. This marked an important stage in the implementation of the Group’s development strategy, which provides for an expansion of the company’s participation in oil and gas projects in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Sovcomflot’s TEC training facilities provide a valuable means of practising a whole range of Arctic maritime operations, including: servicing of oil platforms; navigation at northern latitudes; navigation in icy waters, with and without icebreaker escort; approaching ice-resistant terminals and vessel positioning during loading operations, and the organisation of complex towing operations.

Between July and December 2013, 763 seafarers completed training courses across seven disciplines at SCF TEC in St. Petersburg. At present, experts at the centre are working on an updated course entitled: “Navigation in Arctic ice conditions using superships fitted with azipod propulsion systems”, which will be of great value for the promising Yamal LNG project. The course is being developed on the basis of DNV-GL standards regarding navigator training for operations in icy waters. The classification society has stated its intention to amend its standards in the future, based on research conducted by SCF Shipping specialists at the centre.

In 2014 TEC Novoship Training in Novorossiysk celebrated its tenth anniversary, although its work really began around 25 years ago as an education and training centre, created for the Novorossiysk shipping line. This was one of the first centres in the country for retraining professional seafarers. Today it is one of Russia’s leading maritime training centres. Novoship Training is certified by the DNV-GL international classification society, in compliance with the ISO 9001 standard (Quality Management).

In 2013, TEC Novoship Training provided courses to a record 8,000 people. The centre is equipped with a state-of-the-art navigation suite and GMDSS simulator, which form part of the “virtual ship”.