Amsterdam Gets New Maritime Training Centre

After MAAP in the Philippines and Jaheziya in Abu Dhabi, MTC Amsterdam is the third center to become accredited with the support of MTC International.

MTC International globally supports safety training centers and their clients, mainly active in offshore, shipping and renewable energy. Centers profit from benefits like network certification, shared services for course administration and booking systems, joined sales and presence at important tradeshows and events in the industry.

The state-of-the-art facility in Amsterdam and MTC International’s innovative approach promise to offer more-efficient, high-quality safety training by harnessing the latest technologies and providing a client-driven and flexible service.

MTC Amsterdam makes intelligent use of an old shipyard in the heart of the city. The building has been fitted with three floors to enable small groups to undertake separate activities at the same time. It also boasts a 16-m indoor wind turbine, a sea survival and lifeboat training pool, two helicopter underwater-escape training (HUET) modules in a separate pool and a virtual-reality room for team training.

As well as leading-edge facilities, MTC Amsterdam has innovative practices designed to increase training efficiency. For example, assessing the competencies of each participant before a course enables their training to be focused on the skills and knowledge they lack. In this way, the training becomes more interactive and reduces the training time for experienced workers.

Nicole van Ham, Sales & Marketing Manager, MTC International, says, “We believe that the combination of high-tech facilities and new ways of working provides many benefits. For example, because the center is designed for small groups working in parallel, we can offer flexible start times that fit with different travel arrangements. Rather than being forced to forgo a weekend with their families to travel for the traditional early Monday morning start, attendees can opt for a mid-morning start on Tuesday or Wednesday. Once on-site, they will typically be in trained in small groups, so they will not waste time waiting for one of the seats in a HUET module, for instance.

“Our new facility is also well equipped with workstations, but we are all about flexibility and in the future we’ll offer much of our theoretical training and assessment through an e-learning portal. This will enable people to learn at a time that suits them and at their own pace.” 

MTC Amsterdam serves the offshore oil and gas, offshore renewable energy, maritime and various onshore industries, and will provide courses accredited by OPITO, NOGEPA, STCW and GWO.

Press Release, April 17, 2014; Image: brandmarion