Effective Jan 1st 2017 , all ships making voyages into Polar waters must have on board officers whom have received mandatory training at both the Basic and Advanced levels. This is a requirement for all SOLAS ships making international voyages under the IMO Polar Code, and for Canadian Domestic vessels under the Arctic Shipping Safety and Pollution Prevention Regulations.
As a candidate to take the BPW course, you must
- Hold a certificate as Master, chief mate or officer in charge of a navigation watch qualified in accordance with regulations II/1, II/2 and II/3 of the STCW Convention, respectively; or,
- Be enrolled in an approved cadet program and have completed training in navigation safety, electronic navigation, meteorology, chartwork, stability, construction and international conventions (i.e: SOLAS and MARPOL) and have completed their qualifying sea service.
This 34-hour course will be delivered over 5 days with a blend of both classroom instruction and practical simulator exercises.
The 2 instructors of the course, Capt. Ivan Oxford and Capt. Mark Taylor, both have long seagoing careers so far totaling 90 years, which included numerous years spent on a variety of Commercial and Coast Guard vessels in ice infested & Arctic Waters. This experience will be drawn upon, as they deliver an interesting and detailed course to allow the participants to gain the knowledge , skills and confidence required to serve as a fully certified officer in Polar Waters.
Subjects to be covered range from the stages of development of ice, legislative requirements, additional hazards of Polar waters navigation, ship construction and performance in ice and low temperatures, maneuvering in ice, pollution prevention measures, crew preparation and safety requirements.
4 simulator exercises will be conducted by participants on one of the 4 full Wartsilla-Transas 5000 simulator bridges, to allow students to apply the knowledge and skills presented in the classroom session. Bridge teams will be assigned to have each of the students use proper Bridge Resource management skills together with recently learned Polar Waters knowledge to work together in completing the “passage plan”. A blend of both ice capable Commercial ships and Icebreakers will be used to demonstrate the maneuvering characteristics of each of these and various types of propulsion systems. Each exercise will build on the previous, to give the student a very realistic scenario of the planning and decision making required to conduct a safe passage through various ice/wx and sea conditions.
Students will be evaluated through both an end of course written exam and also practical evaluations in simulator exercises. Upon satisfactory completion of these, students will be issued a Transport Canada certificate, which will be accepted by TCMSB and then an EXN training certificate will be issued, that is accepted by all signatory countries to SOLAS.
For upcoming course dates and to register visit our Basic Training for Ships Operating in Polar Waters course page.