Ship-owners and operators invest downtime in crew training

The Coronavirus has had a major impact on the shipping industry. Experts in Yara Marine Technologies now have their hands full with online training to help superintendents and chief engineers invest downtime in their crew. Number of training courses has nearly doubled.

“Scrubbers are still considered as new equipment and our experience is that key crew members still could use better understanding, more experience and training,” Aleksander Askeland, CSO at Yara Marine Technologies says.

Scrubber downtime is often due to lack of knowledge on maintenance, troubleshooting and general operation of the scrubbers. A trained crew always makes better decisions, preventing downtime. That is why those who invest in scrubbers, also make sure to invest in the people who keep them running.

Crew training is more popular now than ever. Online training is usually either a one- or a two-day course. Courses must adapt to beginners and more experienced crew, and they need to fit the crew’s schedule. Yara Marine Technologies has more than 400 scrubbers installed in ships all over the world, delivering scrubbers and training to the major marine segments.

The online training program focuses on expanding equipment operation knowledge and safe maintenance standards for crew, electrical- and engine officers, technical staff and superintendents.

“Yara’s scrubbers are quite easy to operate, but you need to know what you are doing, and there has never been a better time to do training and to maintain SOx scrubber system skills than now. Operational disruptions are expensive, and proper training minimizes the risk of downtime. Also, we see cases where maintenance is performed incorrectly, with very bad results. Correct operation and maintenance on the other hand makes you compliant, extends the life cycle on the scrubber, saves time, saves spare parts and reduces overall operational costs,” Askeland explains.