Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute
 |
|
| Type | public |
|---|---|
| Established | 1978 |
| Chief Executive Officer | Iefata Paeniu |
|
Academic staff
|
12 |
| Students | 120 graduates in 2009 and 2010 |
| Location |
Tuvalu Coordinates: 8°26′17.6″S 179°10′16.3″E / 8.438222°S 179.171194°E |
| Campus | Amatuku |
The Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute (TMTI) is located on Amatuku motu, on Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu. TMTI provides training to approximately 120 marine cadets each year, to provide them with the basic skills necessary for employment as seafarers on merchant shipping. TMTI operates under the Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute Act 2000.
A number of Tuvaluans are employed as merchant seamen on cargo ships on contracts of up to 12 months. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that, as of 2011, there were 800 Tuvaluan men trained, certified and active as seafarers. The ADB estimates that, at any one time, about 15 percent of the adult male population works abroad as seafarers. The Ahrenkiel Group of Germany is the shipping company that is the primary employer of Tuvaluan seafarers. The SWIRE shipping company also employs Tuvaluan seafarers.
Twelve Tuvaluan sailors were among the crew of 24 of MV Hansa Stavanger, a German container ship that was captured by Somali pirates in April 2009.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s merchant shipping evolved from an industry that involved ship registration and the recruitment of crew in the country of ownership to a multinational industry characterised by ‘internationalising’ crews, management and ship nationality using flags of convenience. TMTI was founded in 1978-79 to provide a training school for Tuvaluan men who are interested to be working as seaman, cooks or marine engineers in the international maritime industry with a basic level of maritime qualifications and also to provide experienced seaman with revalidation and advanced training to upgrade their skills. The marine school on Amatuku motu (islet) opened in 1981.
Tuvalu has implemented the 2010 amendments to the Convention on Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers 1978 (STCWS), which improve training for managing security standards on merchant shipping to address risks such as piracy.
In 2002, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved an assistance package to upgrade the Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute. The redevelopment of TMTI was considered necessary to met the competition provided by the growing supply of qualified seafarers graduating from an increasing number of maritime schools around the world and to meet the tightening of accreditation standards of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The project financed by the ADB involved a jetty extension and installation of specialized safety-at-sea training equipment, installation of a fire fighting facility, expansion of the water catchment and storage capacity, construction of new staff housing, the rehabilitation and extension of trainee quarters and training facilities.
...
Wikipedia