“One Stop Shop” to Turku

	Director Jari Ullakonoja of Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy (to the right) and the Dean of Sydväst Maritime Per-Olof Karlsson are looking forward to a successful co-operation.

In co-operation with Sydväst Maritime, Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy is able to offer a wide range of training solutions for crew and officers, tailored for the shipowner. A training centre – One Stop Shop – is being established in Turku (Åbo).

Wärtsilä has for decades arranged product-oriented training regarding engines and auxiliaries as part of its customer services. This sector has been expanding and other service companies have also been incorporated.
The training has been fixed mainly to the products of Wärtsilä. Today a general trend within training is to go a step further than product-oriented training. It is no longer the product itself that is in focus, it is rather the customers and their individual needs.

– In the power plant business we have provided customer-oriented training for years, but now we are also entering the marine sector, explains Jari Ullakonoja, director of the Wärtsilä Sea & Land Academy within Wärtsilä Corporation.
Wärtsilä has built up a considerable service network during the years, including several training centres and a large number of “cold” training centres without permanent training personnel but only equipment.
When new ideas were needed about how to more efficiently utilise this global training infrastructure and equipment, the idea of establishing the Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy was born.

Specialist in education
At the end of April 2004 Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy and Sydväst Maritime signed a partnership agreement, covering extensive training programmes within management, operation, maintenance and safety issues for marine personnel. In this way Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy can offer training programmes covering the whole maritime sector.

Sydväst Maritime in Turku provides both basic nautical education for students and further training for seafarers or other persons active within the shipping sector.
In autumn 2004 Sydväst Maritime will also launch an education programme for engineers. Wärtsilä is involved in this too, and will procure an engine room simulator to Turku, which is also going to be used in this training.
– We have searched for a partner specialised in training. Sydväst Maritime turned out to be the perfect solution, as they provide the most advanced training solutions for the maritime sector, Mr Ullakonoja says.

Tailor-made training programmes for shipping companies and other customers have been one of the specialities of Sydväst Maritime. The investments in advanced bridge simulators are now paying off as Sydväst Maritime has entered agreements about supplying many different levels of training to authorities and several large shipping companies such as Fortum Shipping and Wallenius Marine.
In addition to the unit in Turku, Sydväst Maritime also provides safety training in its Airisto Safety Center in Pargas (Parainen).

In Turku the partners will form their first “One Stop Shop”, serving not only the domestic and the Scandinavian market, but the whole Europe.

Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy also has plans to establish One Stop Training Shops in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and in the Philippines. Further, mobile units, which take the training to the customer, are under development. In these the existing infrastructure of Wärtsilä is utilised for the benefit of the customer.
With Sydväst Maritime as a partner Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy is able to develop advanced training programmes, tailored for the customer.
– Our training programmes are especially taking into consideration the procedures of the ship owner or operator, stresses Per-Olof Karlsson, who is the Dean of Sydväst Maritime.

Certification in accordance to the current mandatory legislation is however not always enough. In addition to that, many companies have their own additional rules and demands, regarding for example safety and environmental aspects. Today quality is a factor, which often is regarded to improve the competitiveness of the company.

Same supplier
The need for training of officers and crews has increased rapidly. The conventional way is to buy the different courses from several suppliers, which can be both time-consuming and expensive.
– The customers of today see the advantages with buying all training from one and the same supplier, explains Mr Ullakonoja.
The complete Competence and Career Management programme offered by Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy is aiming at safe and efficient operation, but also customer loyalty and personnel satisfaction.
– We have for example an agreement with the Norwegian shipping company Odfjell, covering the Competence and Career Management of all the Filipino crew members of that company, which means about 1,400 people, informs Mr Ullakonoja.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Latest update 18-10-2006 8:49

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