Emergency helicopter evacuation in storm conditions, survival craft techniques and how to handle a variety of ships are among the skills which the State's first dedicated maritime college will be equipped to teach from next month.
The €51 million National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) is due to open its doors on October 11th at Ringaskiddy in Cork harbour. However, Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) nautical students have already been working at the new building, which was built under a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative sponsored by the Department of Education and Science.
The college will meet the training requirements of both the merchant marine and Naval Service as part of a unique co-operative venture. The initiative dates back to the 1980s, when the Naval Service left Spike Island and moved its training school there to premises at Haulbowline and at Murphy Barracks in Ballincollig, Co Cork.
The split proved operationally difficult, and in 1993 a 10-acre site was acquired on reclaimed land at Ringaskiddy, close to the naval base, by the Department of Defence. The site was earmarked for a maritime school, but the impetus for a joint venture with the CIT was provided by new international requirements on training and certification of seafarers in 1995.
In 1999, an inter-departmental working group under the Department of the Marine looked at the viability of a joint approach. The then minister for the marine, Dr Michael Woods, transferred to the Department of Education and gave renewed impetus to the plans. The contract for the first third-level PPP was signed by the current Minister for Education, Mr Noel Dempsey, in February of last year.
Degrees in marine engineering and nautical science are on this year's curriculum, along with certificates in navigational studies and competency for professional seafarers. The 14,000-square-metre building can accommodate 750 full-time students, and houses a deep pool for survival training, a helicopter "dunker" to simulate emergency conditions, a cold-water training tank and a marine escape system.
The audiovisual and "weather" generating equipment in the survival pool can simulate storm force Atlantic conditions, complete with thunder and lightning, and is the first of its type on this island. The college is also equipped with a fire and damage control centre for firefighting, and a jetty with elevated survival craft.
Norwegian-designed simulators range from the 360-degree visual bridge on a merchant ship to the 270-degree bridge of a Naval Service patrol vessel and three auxiliary bridges with 150-degree views. In all, the software provides for 32 models of bridge.
On the merchant ship bridge, a student can take a vessel into Cork harbour, in a realistic sea swell, and cope with various simulated hazards.
The building also has engineering workshops, an engine room, training rooms for electronics and related equipment, and research laboratory space. The college plans to provide training for the offshore industry in safety and survival and courses in the marine leisure sector.
The college's staff complement will be 60, drawn from CIT and the Naval Service. It will also have the State's first third-level maritime library, according to Mr Michael Delaney, CIT's head of development at the new college, who has been working in partnership with Mr Donal Burke of CIT's Department of Nautical Studies and Cdr Tom Tuohy of the Naval Service to meet the October deadline.
