KEY POINTS:
There is some good news this week for young people with a yen for a career at sea who are leaving school or about to leave. A new qualification that has long been anticipated by the commercial marine industry was launched that will be the first step for many to a life afloat.
Competenz, the industry training organisation responsible for things maritime, launched the new Commercial In-shore Vessel Deckhand ticket which has been developed after extensive consultation with the industry. It offers Level 2 qualifications to people who are employed or seeking employment as deckhands on commercial vessels. Being on-the-job it is suitable for those already working in the industry as well as school-leavers.
In the past deckhands have had no access to a formal qualification from which to begin their careers and many continue to work with no formal qualification. Employers have also been seeking the entry-level standard, particularly to cover area such as occupational safety and health as well as general seamanship and ship-handling.
Alan Moore, an industry veteran who helped plan the new qualification, explains some of the background:
"In the old days when shipping entrepreneurs like Leo Dromgoole, Les Hutchins, Len Sowerby, Bert Subritzky Harry Julian and George Hudson were struggling to make a living they found staff Kiwi-style by dragging them off the street and teaching them the hard way, on the job. This policy brought a lot of seafarers into the system and from them came the skilled masters the industry required.
"As technology improved and the skippers grew older running their ships with a coil of electrical tape and a pair of pliers was no longer an option. A great deal of skill was needed just to understand some of the funny-looking boxes that were bolted to the new breed of engines. The ships themselves were getting more sophisticated and it was realised throughout the industry that a new entry-level certification was needed.
"After a great deal of work and input from several agencies we now have that qualification."
All of the marine agencies involved in developing the new certificate were on board the new Fullers ferry Adventurer in Auckland on Wednesday for the launch of the qualification by Harry Duynhoven, Minister for Transport Safety. The minister told those present the CDH provided a platform from which people working in the industry can progress into higher qualifications as an integral part of their career paths.
The 59 units of the certificate are all practically based and designed to be gained on the job. It will probably take about six months to pass. The qualification dovetails into other national maritime certificates and the theory components of Maritime New Zealand's certificates of competency. It also allows candidates with the recreational Boatmaster course to be recognised as having an extra component which allows for a reduction in the qualifying time for the certificate.
The CDH can open the way to a wide range of career choices in the maritime industry, including work on ferries, fishing, dolphin watch and charter boats, tourist vessels, water taxis, coastal shipping commercial fishing and barging.
"Then," says old salt Keith Ingram, who also helped put the CDH Task Book together, "there are the dream seagoing jobs like working on and even skippering the sort of superyachts we see in the Viaduct Basin and being launched from our top yards. The jobs are there, all our youngsters need are the qualifications and we believe the CDH will be the first step for many."
* For more information on the new qualification call Competenz on 0800 75455.
