Training Deck Cadets Onboard Commercial Ships in the Multinational Crew Era

The consensus among companies and policy makers is that the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention (STCW) guided training programs for deck cadets are satisfactory and will lead the industry to competency if properly implemented. In this paper, the authors are going to play the role of a whistle-blower by highlighting some shadow areas and pointing out some issues to improve the present training system, and hopefully, shift the focus of the companies from making guidelines and training books to the real monitoring of the onboard training. In this article, by conducting a study on several cases and analyzing onboard knowledge transfer parameters; the authors have concluded that for an up-to-standard onboard training the following are to be re-enforced: Company's supervision by a qualified person; training of the Training Officer to overcome knowledge transfer barriers; and adoption of the 1/3 ratio Concept; 1/3 deck work, 1/3 deck work / bridge watch, 1/3 bridge watch. Finally, the concept of Training Hubs has been introduced to overcome the lack of funding for training facilities and to unify training programs between all training facilities.