Place UTT maritime grads on ships

THE EDITOR: It is great that the HSC Buccoo Reef will arrive soon to join the APT James and the Galleons Passage.

The employment for deck and engineering cadets could not come at better time as UTT’s Maritime Campus has had a lot of problems finding positions on ships for its graduates. These three vessels should be able to employ at least 24 deck and engineer officer cadets on a constant and continual basis.

They need sea time, training and experience to finally get proper third mate and third engineer certification. They will eventually take their places as mates, masters and engineers on all of our ships. We have relied on foreign officers to operate our ships for far too long.

I hope the management of Nidco and the Government will be able to announce that this training will begin immediately. After all, we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on their education. We must honour them by employing them and by providing them with the proper berths so that they will take command of our ships in our waters and beyond.

I do not have anything against foreign officers (I am one), but our ships must be manned and crewed by our people. This is something that every mariner in this country knows and has waited for, for far too long.

CAPT WILD

via e-mail