Ship management company Dockendale has partnered with marine fuels specialist Green Marine to provide alternative-fuel training for seafarers in India, Ship & Bunker reported. The arrangement will bring Green Marine’s courses to Dockendale Training Academy in Mumbai, with instruction covering methanol, ethanol, ammonia and hydrogen for use as marine fuels.
Green Marine announced the partnership in a press release on Friday, according to the report. The courses will address the knowledge and practical skills required to operate vessels using those fuels safely. Officers, engineers and other maritime professionals will be able to access the training as shipowners consider fuel options beyond the conventional products used by the industry.
The partnership comes against what Green Marine describes as a gap between the uptake of alternative fuels and the preparation available to crews. The company said seafarer training had fallen behind developments in fuel adoption. In particular, it said courses developed under the International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low-flashpoint Fuels, known as the IGF Code, remained predominantly centred on LNG rather than the other fuels covered by its programme.
Green Marine’s group chief executive, Fredrik Stubner, linked that assessment to his own experience with methanol propulsion. As reported by Ship & Bunker, he said he had participated in ordering the first methanol dual-fuel engine and had been involved in operating the technology since 2016. That experience, he said, had highlighted the mismatch between changes in shipboard fuel technology and the training offered to seafarers.
The company said captains and chief engineers with hands-on experience of alternative-fuel technologies and vessel design develop and update its curriculum. Through the Mumbai academy, the partnership will make that instruction available in India, with safe vessel operation the stated focus across the four fuels.