ALAN PEAT A DISTINCT milestone has been reached by the SA black-empowered maritime company, Marine Crew Services (MCS), with the first officer to graduate out of the MCS training programme having just left SA to join the 105 000-tonne oil tanker, Sanko Brave, in the Mediterranean. Francois Fouche, who is joining the ship as fourth officer, was one of a number of cadets who joined vessels of the Sanko Steamship Company of Japan as a result of a development programme conducted by MCS to contribute to the establishment of SA as a maritime nation. Shortage of funds scuppers cadet training programme Sanko is providing these opportunities after entering into a partnership agreement with MCS and its sister company, Marine Bulk Carriers (MBC), which resulted in Sanko taking up a shareholding in both companies. While MCS focuses on the training of seafarers, MBC concentrates on finding and carrying cargo to-and-from SA. But, warned company executives, the training programme may be at risk because of a lack of government support. “To complete training and find employment in the maritime field, one needs to qualify academically and serve a specific time at sea to gain practical experience,” said Deanna Collins, training executive at MBC. “Whilst we have excellent facilities for academic training and we have numbers of young students qualifying, it is a different matter to find these cadets berths at sea for them to get practical experience.” Jan Rabie, a director at MCS, said that the partnership with Sanko had resulted in a number of training berths being made available – but this costs money and someone has to pay. “To find cadet training berths on a number of fleets is, in fact, not a problem – if one has the resources to pay for them,” he added. “But there is little incentive for ship owners to get involved without some sort of compensation, because they can easily take in cadets from other established maritime countries. “As a young, black-empowered company we cannot afford to do so and that is why we depend so much on the SA government getting involved.”
