Institute seeks Sh13bn to buy training ship

What you need to know:

  • Dar es Salaam Maritime Institute (DMI) is seeking Sh13 billion to purchase a dedicated training ship in order to enable provide practical training to marine students.
  • The move is to produce competent based sailors who can meet the international market.

Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam Maritime Institute (DMI) seeks Sh13 billion to purchase a ship for training students.

The ship will be specifically designed to practically train students as sailors.

DMI principal Erick Massami told The Citizen that the institution needed to provide practical training to sailors.

“The institute is currently having a small ship that does not qualify to produce competent sailors….. We need a large one to produce graduates who are able to steer any type of ship,” he said.

According to him, such a sailor can be employed anywhere and meet demands of the international market.

The institute requires a large ship to enable cadets acquire class three licences. “For a person to be a competent sailor he or she must be trained by using a dedicated training ship but, most graduates lack such skills because they are not trained with such huge ships.”

“It’s just like in airlines. A pilot cannot fly a big airplane such as Dreamliner without special practical training.”

According to Mr Massami, DMI’s purpose is to train and produce officers, who could get employed anywhere after completing studies, but unfortunately, the institution does not have a ship with such qualities.

He stressed that for instance he was in Indonesia to purchase a dedicated training ship. It requires at least $6 million to have a ship that can accommodate 100 cadets at once.

According to experts, seafarers, otherwise known as sailors, seamen or mariners, hold a variety of professions and ranks, each of which carries unique responsibilities which are integral to the successful operation of an ocean-going vessel.

A ship’s crew can generally be divided into four main categories.

: the deck department, the engineering department, the steward’s department, and others