Training school to upskill local dredging operators

The subject of dredging has become hot news at the moment – particularly at the Port of Durban which has had a disastrous recent history of a number of vessels touching bottom. This was because actual depths were less than charted depths, a result of the unchecked build-up of the sand, mud and stone harbour bottom. But there is an interesting supplier development plan (SDP), which is part of the Netherlands-based Royal IHC group’s contract to deliver a large dredging vessel to Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA). As FTW reported in last week’s issue, the construction of an as-yet unnamed, 5 500 cubic metre trailingsuction hopper dredger has just got under way at the IHC shipyard in Rotterdam. She will be the largest in Africa and the third to be built in a morethan R2-billion programme to renew TNPA’s dredging f leet. One of the concerns about the acquisition of these new high-tech dredgers has been the lack of skilled dredging expertise available in this country. But this SDP promises to go some way towards overcoming this problem. The three-year plan afoot has been the establishment of a training institute in Durban. This facility is a partnership between the TNPA’s Maritime School of Excellence (MSoE) and its Dredging Services, and IHC’s Training Institute for Dredging (TID). This centre is designed to train local dredging operators on TID’s new advanced hopper simulator, develop course curriculums and training materials, and train the future teachers for the school through a so-called “train the trainer” programme. This is expected to create a pipeline of skilled dredger operators that will sustain the requirements for Dredging Services. It will also result in graduates of the course having a marketable skill for which there is a worldwide demand. Another move by TID is to also offer its successful cutter suction dredging simulator programme to the rest of the SA dredging market. An example of this is a three-week course currently planned for March. It will be targeted at cutter suction dredger operators with a minimum of one year’s experience.