Safety & Training

India’s newly appointed Director General of Shipping, Shyam Jagannathan, recently paid a visit to Anglo-Eastern’s flagship training centre in Mumbai to view the state-of-the-art facilities and inaugurate the centre’s latest installation: a dual-fuel engine and LNG bunkering simulator designed to train seafarers on the latest technologies as the industry transitions towards a net-zero future.

Anglo-Eastern recently had the honour of introducing our extensive education and training facilities in Mumbai and Karjat to Capt. Arvind Natrajan of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS). As the ICS senior marine advisor for crewing and training, as well as the chamber’s project lead for the Maritime Just Transition Task Force, Capt. Natrajan had a specific interest in learning how we are preparing seafarers for the changes that lie ahead.

Fire on board, amidst a sea of water, is ironically one of the most dangerous crew emergencies, necessitating early detection, a quick and well-informed response, effective leadership, teamwork, and more. Fortunately, fire is a rare occurrence within the Anglo-Eastern fleet, and when it does occur – in this case, due to the improperly kept and wrongly declared contents of a container that self-ignited – cool heads and a can-do, One Team spirit prevailed to save the day.

Years of focusing on safety and learning from prior incidents have helped Anglo-Eastern reduce incident rates significantly, yet incidents can and still do occur, while the rate of improvements has plateaued. So, what more can be done to take safety to the next level? The answer, writes managing director Lekshmi Salvady, may lie in what we can learn from everyday work.