On June 26 Avior Marine Inc received accreditation from the Philippines Marine Authoritites (MARINA) for its Training Center. Avior can now facilitate accredited STCW courses in house for its Seafarers and issue Certificates acknowledged by the Flag State.

The Training Activities will operate under the name "Avior Academy" and will be operated from Avior's premises in Alabang. The first course accredited is SAT/SDSD and first classes are expected to be run in July for the groups of  cadets coming to Manila for induction.

According to Avior President Ms Edna Ranara the accreditation is a next step in Avior's history in becoming a one stop facility for Seafarers and Principals. "With STCW2010 deadlines nearing we thought we should take some responsibility in being able to ensure our Seafarers are properly trained and qualified. It is our expectation that training capacity of the industry will be stretched to deal with the increased demand closer to the 2017 deadline and we want to be pro-active in this".

Ms Ranara continues, the accreditation process also learned as a few things on training development and assessment and this is something we can build on. Apart from the training we hope this facility will provide some development opportunities for our Officers as well. We will be needing course developers, instructors and assessors and we already have facilitated some of our Officers to obtain the necessary qualifications for this. 

Last but not least we plan to lower the barrier to training by offering "train now-pay later" facilities for selected Seafarers. Ms Ranara concludes, "so all in all this development will be beneficial to all stakeholders, Principals, Seafarers and Avior"

Avior Principal SEATRADE has announced the start of a Fleet Expansion Program in a press release. Seatrade, the world largest reefer vessel operator and owner and the leader in specialised reefer logistics has agreed to acquire twp high-specification container new-buildings of 2.200 TEU from Yanfan's facility in Zhoushan, China for delivery in january 2016.

Seatrade stated this acquisition represents a significant step in Seatrade's commitment to further develop its services and logistical systems dedicated to the transportation of perishable goods. The first order is representative of a larger new-building program involving vessels of similar type and capacity.

Seatrade CEO Yntze Buitenwerf explained that these specialised reefer-container vessels will be employed in current and newly developed trades and will form an integrated part of the FDD (Fast, Direct & Dedicated) concept developed by Seatrade in recent years.

Buitenwerf further explains that as transit times and associated indirect costs are increasing on services operated by larger container lines, there remains a clear demand for FDD services operated by specialised reefers, specialised container vessels and hybrid vessels. 

Seatrade will continue to improve and customize the FDD transportation and logistics in niche trades that offer shorter delivery times, provide flexibility in seasonal fluctutations and service ports with dedicated infrastructure.

Seatrade is also seeking opportunities to increase its fleet with further acquisitions of new-buildings and/or modern second hand tonnage, combined with possible strategic alloances with third-party owners in the same segment.

Yntze Buitenwerf concludes that the latest development is evidence of Seatarde's long term commitment to the industry, enabling the company and its wordwide network of dedicated offices to further improve service levels to its customers and partner in the years to come.