Bibby Ship Management has joined forces with English language experts from the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) to provide English proficiency training for crew.
The new initiative, which has been launched by its Philippines office, will help maritime professionals on all of its vessels develop a clear set of language and communications skills.
Recognised by the British Council, the courses offer training in conversational and technical English to help seafarers improve their academic, spoken and general understanding of the language.
JoJo Palma, president and ceo of Bibby Ship Management (Philippines), said: “We have a strong reputation for providing a high quality service for our clients, a large part of this comes from our continuous skills training.
“The English proficiency courses are the latest measure we have added to the Bibby training programme to ensure all crew are performing to the highest standard, not just in technical and operational excellence, but in all areas.
“Communication failures are a major cause of accidents and incidents in all industries and an area where our experience pool of seafarers reported that they would welcome additional training.
“Since we launched the programme we have noticed a very positive shift in those who have completed the training, in terms of both how they have implemented their new skills on the job and their increased confidence levels when communicating with officers and customers.
“The fact that two of the latest seafarers to complete a five-day intensive course with IETLS passed in the highest percentile, with over 80% each, after failing an alternative module, shows just how effective our teachers are at achieving maximum results.
“Early feedback from officers also illustrates they are having an extremely useful impact on everyday performance levels on the vessels. We expect to see even more positive results in the upcoming months and will continue to roll out the programme to maritime professionals as they join the Bibby team.”
The courses, which result in an internationally recognised qualification, provide different levels of training depending on the existing competency of the seafarer. Options range from a ten-day course, which takes four hours a day, to an intensive programme, which lasts just five-days and involves eight hours teaching per day.
