CHENNAI: Maersk Training, part of the Denmark based A.P. Moller-Maersk, will train 10,000 people in India to be employed in the maritime sector, in collaboration with National Skill Development Corporation, giving a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream to develop coastal India as new economic hubs.
The partnership comes right in time to take advantage of the demand for trained personnel that is set to be created with India’s ambitious Sagarmala Project. Sagar Mala is a strategic initiative to modernise India’s Ports and initiate port-led development to turn the country’s coastlines into engines of growth.
The project, according to Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, is likely to create over one crore jobs in the next five years.
Maersk Training, the skilling arm of the multi-billion dollar Denmark based Maersk Group, has put up two courses for approval under the MoU with the NSDC.
“Courses that we have put up for NSDC approval are on handling hazardous cargo and on documentation,” said Satya Mitra Bagga, Managing Director, Maersk Training India speaking to Express. The hazardous material handling course is set to be especially important, according to Bagga, because of the huge risks involved in improper handling of such cargo. Documentation too has large financial, even safety, consequences if done improperly and this is where Bagga sees demand rising.
“Each port will employ thousands, mostly in maritime shipping. This is where we see huge scope - because one small accident has such huge consequences, both tangible and intangible,” he pointed out.
Achieving the ambitious ‘10,000 people skilled’ target, might not be easy. “We do not know how will pan out in terms of documentation and mobilising people to come to the course. So far, we have been in a very niche segment and this is new to us,” he said.
New Off-site Training Centre
Maersk Training has expanded capacity to cater to both hubs that provide most of India’s 30,000 strong merchant officer corps by opening a new off-site training centre in Mumbai. The firm has its India HQ in Chennai, and South India provides the large majority of the merchant officer corps on the engineering side.