The largest in Europe: ITU – Delmar Training Academy

ITU - Delmar Training Academy Managing Director Arda Akyüz says, "ITU - Delmar Training Academy aims to address maritime as a whole, not only in the field of LSA but also with programs like FFE in the near future and currently ongoing programs like CICEK-DELVERSE-STAFF. This way, we aim to cater to a wide range of individuals, from recent graduates to service engineers, from office workers to shipyard engineers. Thus, we aim to benefit our country by keeping up with the changing needs and technological advancements of the maritime industry." He adds: "We are the largest training center in Europe"

ITU – Delmar Training Academy

ITU - Delmar Training Academy was established on the 138th Fish Day (December 10, 2022). It was endowed to ITU Maritime Faculty by Delmar Group partners, who are graduates of the school, in an attempt to repay some of their debts of gratitude. The ISO 23678:2022 standard was initially announced in 2020 as ISO PAS 23678. Shortly after its initial announcement, we met with Delmar Group executives and decided that this standard was a 'game-changer' both nationally and internationally. Subsequently, we immediately began our efforts and granted the necessary administrative/class authorities to ITU - Delmar Training Academy, which essentially marked the beginning of this journey. Although our initial goal was to provide training to service engineers under ISO 23678:2022, over time, we launched many training programs in line with industry needs, demands, and our foresight. Additionally, we regularly welcome the esteemed students of our alma mater to our facility. We strive to assist them as much as possible in becoming familiar with various equipment such as lifeboats, lifebuoys, free-fall boat, and fast rescue boats. Moreover, depending on the availability of classes and facilities, we endeavor to provide our students with the best possible experience by allowing them to steer under the supervision of our instructors and academics, thereby providing them with a real-life experience. 

112 certificates in 2 years

Since our establishment, we have provided LSA training under ISO 23678:2022 to a total of 112 individuals, completing their certification processes. Additionally, we have organized theoretical training sessions for ITU DF students on various occasions, focusing on life-saving equipment, maintenance, and repair areas. Following the theoretical sessions, we facilitated group sessions for them to use our equipment such as rescue boats and fast rescue boats to reinforce their knowledge. 

We are aiming to introduce fire training to our facility very soon. For this purpose, we are in discussions with one of the largest companies in terms of fire equipments. This will make us the world's first training center to offer LSA + FFE combination in its services.We are also in talks with three different companies for our CICEK training program, which is aimed at shipyard/offshore workers. Approximately 1-2 months ago, we conducted our first pilot training sessions. Our STAFF and DELVERSE programs have been operational for about 4-5 months. We are continuing discussions with both national and international crewing/shipping companies, and I can confidently say that we are close to reaching an agreement in the near future. 

Both individual and corporate options are available

It is possible to access all our training/services through our official website and social media accounts. Additionally, whether individuals or corporate entities, anyone who wishes to make a specific/more tailored training request related to our existing training programs or independently can reach out to us through any communication channel. In fact, I can say that our CICEK-DELVERSE and STAFF programs have been shaped and put into operation in this way. 

Our ISO 23678:2022 trainings are conducted face-to-face and adhere to specific hour requirements as per the standard. Therefore, unfortunately, we cannot provide any flexibility in terms of location/time, in accordance with international rules and standards. However, for different groups such as shipyard-office-ship management employees (STAFF-DELVERSE-CICEK), this may be possible with our training packages. We strive to provide flexibility within the standards and international rules as much as possible, utilizing various methods such as delivering theoretical parts through online training or assigning regular assessments where feasible. 

The multifaceted contributions of the trainings to maritime industry

I can say that ITU – Delmar Training Academy is the largest training facility in Europe in terms of physical/capacity in the field it serves. ISO 23678:2022 training by service engineers is mandatory for the annual/5-year maintenance of lifeboats and davits/release gear equipment on ships. Therefore, every three years, service engineers from Turkey and Europe, and indeed all over the world, had to go to a single location before us. However, with our opening, I believe we have provided an opportunity to overcome this challenge, especially for service engineers in Turkey and Europe, as you can imagine. When I look at the information of the companies/service engineers we provide training to, I can see this. I can say that by receiving training from us, they become quite advantaged in terms of competitive prices, location, and accessibility. 

In addition, ITU - Delmar Training Academy aims to address maritime as a whole, not only in the field of LSA but also with upcoming programs like FFE and ongoing ones like CICEK-DELVERSE-STAFF. This allows us to cater to a wide range of individuals, from recent graduates to service engineers, from office workers to shipyard engineers. Thus, we aim to benefit our country by keeping up with the changing needs and technological advancements of the maritime industry.

Moreover, it is actually a great responsibility and achievement to be able to touch the future captains/engineers of ITU Maritime Faculty. When students come to the facility and touch various equipment and experience it, you can see the sparkle in their eyes. From that moment on, you realize how big/responsible and enjoyable our work is. Our students are our future, so I believe we need to remember once again that we were also once like them, and one of the most important roles in the development of Turkish maritime falls to them and indirectly to us. 

Maritime accidents and environmental issues are a priority

When we examine both reports and literature studies, we see that the majority of accidents/deaths occurring on ships unfortunately happen due to "drills and lifeboat-davit" reasons. Therefore, I can confidently say that we give maximum importance to accidents. ISO 23678:20222's emergence and one of its main goals are; to standardize LSA training to prevent accidents worldwide and prevent loss of life and property.

Let me start with our ISO 23678:2022 training. Our training starts with theoretical knowledge and sections. Candidates receive training in our classrooms before going to lifeboats and release gear/davit equipment. We cover topics such as increasing environmental awareness, risk assessment methods, emergency response, accident investigation and reporting, environmental pollution in terms of national-international rules, MARPOL, etc., in our theoretical lessons. Thus, candidates can actually gain insight by reviewing the literature and evaluating real incidents/cases/accidents and calculating their risks, enabling them to work on real incidents. Therefore, I can personally say, based on our discussions and feedback, that every service engineer who receives training from us and returns to his/her country is much more competent/visionary in the mentioned subjects. 

Our CICEK training program targets shipyard/offshore workers. In our two-day training, the most important issues we focus on are risk assessment, environment, and accidents. As I mentioned earlier, this and our other training programs are created based on specific/demand. We also have a department that constantly monitors and integrates current topics such as recent accidents, incidents, environmental disasters, and lifeboat/davit accidents into our curriculum. This way, we can keep our knowledge and training programs/contents constantly up to date.

Our STAFF training program is more aimed at computer-based/office workers. Although they may not be in the field themselves, they need to have a high awareness of environmental-fire-lifeboat equipment, and emergency response in line with the dynamics of maritime and changing needs/requests. Depending on work availability, we can also handle theoretical parts online. Thus, we can provide all our outputs to our candidates without interruption. 

We are aware of the critical nature of accidents in the maritime industry, and for this reason, we are in constant exchange of ideas with valuable ITU DF academics and stakeholders. In fact, we will organize workshops/seminars on lifeboat-davit accidents and risks at Europort 2024 Istanbul. Moreover, we will announce the conferences we continue to negotiate in the near future through our website and social media accounts. 

Full support even after the training

First of all, we provide a resource called the "training handbook" to candidates who successfully complete the ISO 23678:2022 training. This resource was created based on articles, presentations, reports, and industry research available in the literature. This booklet, which is approximately 200 pages long, provides detailed explanations of topics such as risk assessment methods and the creation of risk matrices. This allows service engineers who will attend annual/5-year inspections to have an idea about the operation, maintenance, and attitude stages beforehand, which helps us prevent accidents/risks. Not only that, but the booklet also covers various topics such as how to intervene in emergencies, the biggest risks associated with lifeboats and davits, how to analyze accident reports, and how to determine root causes. Our quality department sends weekly emails to our graduates to collect their feedback. This way, we can support them mentally and take quick action when they need help or advice. 

Satisfactory performance evaluations

We can see the performance evaluation from the ships where our trainees are assigned. Our trainees write the checklists/certificates they receive on the ship through our system. To complete the process, they need to upload their evaluations from the captain/chief engineer to the system. The uploaded reports are reviewed and analyzed by our quality department. In our system, I see that inspections by service engineers who graduated from us have been completed for 69 vessels. I can say that in 65 of these reports, the scores given by the captain/chief engineer are above 90. The other four reports fall between 80-90 points. From this, we can clearly see that service engineers who complete ITU – Delmar Training Academy's training not only complete their inspections smoothly but also earn appreciation from the personnel of the respective vessels. Thus, I can say that our performance data is highly satisfactory, although we continue to strive for even better results.