A study on the developments of STCW training of seafarers on ships applying in the IGF Code

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been regulating emissions by making mandatory the compliance with institutions aimed at protecting air quality such as the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) and Tier III. Under the circumstances, one of the response measures considered to be the most feasible is the replacement of existing marine fuel with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The industry has been preemptively building infrastructure and developing and spreading engine technology to enable the use of LNG-fueled ships. The IMO, in turn, recently adopted the International Code of Safety for Ships Using Gases or Other Low-Flash-Point Fuels (IGF Code) as an institutional measure. Thus, it is required to comply with regulations on safety-related design and systems focused on response against potential risk for LNG-fueled ships, in which low-flash-point fuel is handled in the engine room. Especially, the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention was amended accordingly. It has adopted the qualification and training requirements for seafarers who are to provide service aboard ships subject to the IGF Code exemplified by LNG-fueled ships. The expansion in the use of LNG-fueled ships and relevant facilities in fact is expected to increase demand for talents. Thus, the time is ripe to develop methods to set up appropriate STCW training courses for seafarers who board ships subject to the IGF Code. In this study, the STCW Convention and existing STCW training courses applied to seafarers offering service aboard ships subject to the IGF Code are reviewed. The results were reflected to propose ways to design new STCW training courses needed for ships subject to the IGF Code and to identify and improve insufficiencies of the STCW Convention in relation to the IGF Code.