CMU Student Welcomes Opportunity to Hone Skills in Germany

Third-year Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) student, Winston Chambers, is grateful to be the recipient of a scholarship to train at the DNV GL in Germany.

He will be taking full advantage of the three-week programme as he looks to prepare to fully participate in the logistics-centred economy being developed by the Government.

The DNV GL is an internationally accredited registrar and classification society, which provides services for several industries, including maritime, renewable energy, oil and gas, electrification, food and beverage, and health care.

The student, who is pursuing a four-year degree programme in Marine Transportation, said he was elated to have been chosen for the scholarship.

The St. Elizabeth native, who will be taking up the scholarship in July, described the opportunity presented to him as “great” and noted that he would gain a better understanding of the concepts that have been taught in class.

. “Going to Germany and getting hands-on training in marine inspection and survey will broaden my knowledge of the course and (will) help me to understand some of the things I cannot readily understand in class just by reading,” he said.

The scholarship is a component of the German Model Apprenticeship Programme launched recently at the CMU in Kingston.

Under the initiative, approximately 25 welders and fitters are to be among the first group of students to receive training to international standards.

This will make them ready for employment as technical shipyard personnel in the dockyard being developed by German Ship Repair Jamaica Limited at Harbour Head in Kingston. The company is a joint venture between Jamaica and Germany.

The development of dry dock operations in Jamaica as a major component of the Logistics Hub initiative.

State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, who addressed the launch of the apprenticeship programme, welcomed the partnership between Jamaica and Germany-based stakeholders to offer training and apprenticeship to the students.

These include Ministry of Transport and Mining, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Jamaica Freight and Shipping Company Limited, HEART Trust/NTA, German Ship Repairs Jamaica Limited, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kingston, Harren & Partner Ship Management and the CMU.

He said that the Government is pushing to establish Jamaica’s Logistics Hub and the programme will ensure that the country produces technically skilled people at the highest level.

“The reality is that we have to put our young people to work, there is no other way. We have to guide them in the areas in which our country is opening up to so that they can get employment when they have finished their training,” he said.

In his 2017/18 Budget Presentation in Parliament in March, Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, reasserted the Government’s commitment to making Jamaica a logistics centre and has committed resources to ensure that the logistics project is expedited.

Lands for the construction of facilities that will further develop Jamaica’s logistics operations have also been earmarked.

He said appointed an Enterprise Team, led by Chairman of the Economic Growth Council (EGC), Michael Lee-Chin, which is responsible for assessing customs and shipping regulation reform, logistics activity zones and logistics investment promotion.

The team will engage the investors, industry stakeholders and regulators in consultations.

The Prime Minister noted that the objective is to attract increased trans-shipment cargo to the Kingston Harbour and to develop warehousing and logistics facilities at locations adjacent to the main trans-shipment terminals as well as at key zones linked to the terminals by appropriate transportation infrastructure.

Over the long-term, he said, the Government intends to encourage investors to establish their logistics, light manufacturing and commercial operations in these zones.

“Under this Administration, the goal of making Jamaica a logistics centre, a logistics hub, a logistics economy will be realised,” he declared.