TWENTY two ship captains from Lautoka and Nadi completed a 10-day upskill program last week.
The ship captains were trained by the Fiji National University’s Fiji Maritime Academy.
Academy head of Safety and Survival Captain Tevita Robanakadavu said the bridging course was to update and upskill the deck officers.
He said participants would be updated to Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping 1978 as amended under MSAF Act of 2010 and would be valid for five years from January 01, 2017.
He said under the Act, from January 1, 2017, all deck officers holding a Master Certificate with at least 12 months approved sea-service should have been upgraded and holding their tickets.
“This bridging program is in line with the MSAF Act each time it is updated or amended officers will have to upskill themselves,” he said.
“So for those captains that completed the program in 1978 bridging program they were upgraded to the 1995 act.
“The participants had to complete duration of 35 hours meaning completing the program in 10 nights of 3.5hours to make up the 35 hours. “From the 1995 Act another bridging course was conducted in 2001 to 2010 amendments and now bridging 2010 to 2017.
Captain Robanakadavu said there were plans to offer another bridging program later this month with 31 participants ready for training.
This was the first time the bridging program was offered in the Western Division.
