Industry professionals praise this year’s inspiring and informative open day – May 2014

With attendees from over forty varying companies within the industry, as well as the Mayor of Fareham, ECDIS Ltd successfully ran their third open day on the 16th May this year, raising awareness of issues surrounding Maritime Training in a Digital Age.

The event was a huge success. “Very interesting presentations – intend to make increasing use of ECDIS Ltd for our marine staff.” – Matt Winter, ABP Southampton. “Good facilities, highly qualified staff, well balanced presentations.” – Adrian Cociug, Euroship Services Ltd.

During the free event external speakers included MAIB, RNLI and Edson Tiger. Presentations from the day promoted in-depth lively debates on a range of important subjects. David Rydiard, Ministry of Defence, commented that the event was “an extremely well organised and informative day, which covered the various aspects of digital navigation well.” With presentations, debates and networking opportunities, David continued to comment that the event was “a very well balanced day.”

Guest speaker Richard North, discussed the risks of ‘inadequate training and an over reliance on electronic aids to navigation’ with a reminding title of ‘Don’t forget to look outthe window!’ Andrew Deacon of DSTL said that he found the event “a useful day with insights into the industry view on ECDIS. I really enjoyed the presentation by Richard on the MAIB view.”

Subsequent to the discussion points raised on the day, regarding the future of where maritime simulation may take the marine industry, ECDIS Ltd will be launching their newly developed Port Creation service, at this year’s Seawork exhibition on the 11th June in Southampton. Bridget Hogan from The Nautical Institute said that it was “interesting to learn how simulation is developing to help all sorts of areas,” an innovative point raised during the presentation.

Guest speakers Dougie Wright and David Curran of Edson Tiger (maritime security) discussed ‘technology and human factors in training’ and the need to get the balance right, a huge debate in the area of maritime training in a digital age. Dominic Cosgrove of Inserve Yachts thought it was “a very thorough, in-depth insight to what ECDIS Ltd and their partners do.”

During the open day event, the Mayor of Fareham, Councillor Susan Bayford raised a toast to ECDIS Ltd’s charity success having presented Paul White, from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), with a donation raised purely from the profits of their charity tuck box. During training at ECDIS Ltd, seafarers from across the globe have tucked into several snacks all in aid of raising money for the RNLI. Money for seafarers, raised by seafarers – we would definitely call that sweet success! Paul also presented on the day, sharing the RNLI’s six tips on safety advice for water users.

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