New LNG carrier has training facilities

NYK has taken delivery of a new LNG vessel, Grace Cosmos, which is equipped with training facilities for cadets. It is the first vessel in Japan with such cadet-training facilities. The first group of cadets had been students in the NYK Class at Shanghai Maritime University and boarded Grace Cosmos on 10 May.

Aboard the vessel, exclusive instructors, who used to be captains or chief engineers on NYK vessels, use the latest equipment and materials to help the cadets to develop a high level of environmental consciousness and master the know-how of vessel operations and safe navigation. The newbuilding has a lecture room and other special accommodations for cadets and instructors. In time, NYK will accept delivery of five more vessels similarly equipped with training facilities for cadets.

The training schedule is set up so that all cadets, a maximum of 20 per vessel, are trained on a vessel for the first three months, after which they board a standard NYK vessel, in groups of two or three people per vessel, for nine more months. NYK intends to raise cadets from basic training to be high-quality officers and thus man NYK’s fleet of about 1,200 vessels in 2013.