Training and development

Training and Safety at Sea

We invest in training to ensure a class-leading safety culture and service delivery to our customers. Through our commitment to our crews’ training, safety, motivation and overall job fulfilment, we benefit from increased retention of high-quality, loyal seafarers and safe operations.

Our safety and external inspection KPIs are among the best in the industry, driven by the significant investment we make in seafarer training at sea and ashore to standards exceeding mandatory STCW requirements.

We run regular crew training seminars at our crewing centres in Dalian and Manila. These are designed to keep officers abreast of regulatory requirements, experience feedback and other developments and issues affecting our industry and our teams’ particular areas of focus. Our seminars address industry and internal incidents and near-misses and, with participant involvement, develop preventive measures.

Other training investments include:

  • Regular simulator-based training in Bridge Team Management and the types of ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display Information System) fitted on our ships, and Marine Resource Management in partnership with the Swedish P&I Club
  • Cultivating leadership qualities through MRM training for both our shore-based and on-board managers, because we believe the success of our safety management system depends on the trained skills of our managers and how these leaders approach our safety management system’s implementation at sea, on shore and at the ship-shore interface
  • Enhanced pre-joining briefings for all our sea staff
  • Training seminars run voluntarily by our experienced Masters and Chief Engineers for our ratings while both teachers and students are on shore-leave
  • Reviewing all staff’s training needs during appraisals to ensure skill gaps are identified and plugged and further development training is on offer
  • Officer cadet recruitment and training schemes in our crewing centres in China since 2005, the Philippines since 2010 and in Hong Kong since 2013
  • We train 1-2 officer cadets on each of our ships
  • Deploying Fleet Training Managers to sail periodically on our owned vessels and offer our crew on-the-job training in safety and key operational areas
  • Employing multiple Marine & Safety Managers and Training Managers ashore who conduct fleet safety inspections, navigation audits and pre-joining briefings and provide shore-based support on marine and safety issues to our ships’ crews
  • Communicating shore-based advice and support from our in-house technical department to our ships’ staff to enhance the safety of our operations at sea and the consistency of our service quality

Training Ashore

We invest in staff training and leadership development at all levels, which enhances productivity, engagement, loyalty and retention and provides a strong foundation for career advancement and succession planning.

  • social and team-building events
  • group-wide intranet connectivity and information sharing
  • on-the-job training, site visits and company visits
  • independently-run classroom and seminar-based training
  • leadership and management training
  • training in other specialised management tools

A large proportion of our shore-based staff receive external training every year provided by local trainers and leading international business schools.

Our recruitment and training of international graduates and other young recruits arms our teams with keen, talented executives, who go on to demonstrate their value in our global offices.

We offer a structured three-month trainee programme in which trainees visit our various departments, travel on ships, visit dry-docks, spend time with our shipping agents, ship brokers and customers, and receive an in-depth experience in all facets of dry bulk shipping.

Our PB Trainee Programme

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