Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for Revalidating for The Nautical Institute DP Operator Certificate

[Ladder]

There is a new requirement for re-validating DP tickets from the Nautical Institute coming into force in January 2024 that people might not be aware of.

A lot of people I know hadn’t heard about it, it hasn’t been well publicized.

People have to complete an online CPD course and an online Nautical Institute exam.

The online CPD course seems to be something that people will have to do every year, or instead of that they can do a weeks course once before re-validating. I think the exam only has to be done once.

[Ladder]

This person called ‘Kate Gillespie’ has a post about it on her linkedin profile

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kgmaritime

[powerabout]

Its every 5 years and it will hoover up the 12,000 or so tickets issued to people that havnt done any exam ever.
You can just do the reval course at a DP school.

[Ladder]

The extra bureaucracy does seem a bit annoying but I can certainty see the benefits of it.

As you say it might help reduce the number of people with bogus qualifications.

[powerabout]

Most countries STCW95+ tickets need some sort of validation check every 5 years so its inline with that.

[ombugge]

@powerabout

Most countries STCW95+ tickets need some sort of validation check every 5 years

It is STCW10’ that is in force now:

STCW_guide_english.pdf

Upgrading and revalidation
The 2010 Manila amendments entered into force on 1st January 2012 but although
some administrations may introduce new standards, they may continue to apply
existing standards for certification and training. Governments may continue to renew
and revalidate on the existing convention until 1st January 2017 except for new
entrants commencing training after 1st July 2013, who must comply with new
mandatory standards.
There are two exceptions to the above, which are that the new minimum hours of rest
for seafarers come into force on 1st January 2012, and mandatory security training is
applicable from 1st January 2014. You should check with your administration as the
national requirements may be introduced earlier.
You have a number of options to re-validate or upgrade your STCW certificate. You
should remember that the current emphasis on certification is that the seafarer can
demonstrate competency in the duties they will be expected to carry out. Secondly,
under the amendments the ship owner has additional responsibilities in regard to
seafarers in the service of its ships and requires that: ‘seafarers assigned to any of its
ships have received refresher and updating training as required by the convention.’
You may therefore be able to upgrade competencies by a number of methods:

1. Assessment of current work experience and knowledge gained on appropriate ships
   under the existing STCW, e.g. tanker endorsements.
2. Company training courses, e.g. security awareness in compliance with the new STCW
   standards.
3. In-service training; e.g. fire fighting drills.
4. Training establishment accredited course, e.g. ECDIS or integrated rating.
5. Administrations oral examinations, e.g. bridge or engine-room resource
   management. This is integral with the requirements of the ISM code and dependent
   on the requirements of administrations.
   If you are a seagoing seafarer in the capacity of the certificate you hold it is unlikely
   that the administration will require re-examination, but you should check with your
   national administration and that of the flag you are sailing on for confirmation.
   Remember that if you do not wish to attend shore refresher courses you should keep
   endorsed records of all onboard safety or security training.
   Remember: Under the new provisions A I/6 any person conducting in-service training
   of a seafarer, either on board or ashore, which is intended to be used for
   qualifying for certification, must be appropriately trained and qualified for
   the role of trainer and assessor. This may not prohibit other supervisors
   from signing off for tasks undertaken.
   You should also remember that from 1 January 2017 onwards, all STCW certificate
   holders must satisfy competence requirements

[Ladder]

5 yearly DP re-validation has been in place since 2015.

This a new CPD requirement from them, something completely different. Plus the requirement to complete an online Nautical Institute exam is a new requirement.

There is more info at the link below:

DP CPD | keelson-group

[powerabout]

thats the most complicated web site I have ever seen.
There are 2 routes with sea time and without and thats it.

[KateGillespie]

From the 1st January 2024 every DP officer with 150 days sea time revalidating their DPO or DPVM certificates will have to:

1. Have evidence of engagement with a DP CPD programme
2. Take a nautical Institute online exam.

​Where a DP officer does not have evidence of engagement with a DP CPD programme then a full Nautical Institute DP refresher and competency assessment course must be taken before certificate can be revalidated.

At Keelson we believe that CPD is the ISM of crew competence. That is, we think the provision of CPD should rest with the company. A such our DP CPD programme is primarily aimed at companies investing in the process for their DP personnel and includes live BI reporting interfaces and bespoke packages. Individual DP practitioners can however enrol independently of their employer (click here).

[exdraggerman]

has anyone done this online class yet probably not much to it other than navigating the Alexis Platform which alone is enough to weed out lots of people… im running an unclassed DP vessel these days and starting to think about renewal of my DP unlimited in a few years, i see a revalidation class offered quarterly at MPT for 1700$ so at least i wont lose my DP ticket for working at the mom and pop company im at now. i think i will do the CPD class today as it needs be done annually anyway, will report back here later.

[exdraggerman]

can you confirm if i do a revalidation course at approved school (MPT) Then i dont need to do annual CPD CLASSES? i am working on unclassed vessel as master/DPO but that doesnt help with revalidation…

[powerabout]

Look on the NI site its just one page of info.

dpos-timeline.pdf

[KateGillespie]

Yes. If there is no CPD then the full reval course and NI exam will do

[KateGillespie]

“You will be granted an automatic 12-month extension to your existing certificate
to complete the CPD requirements.”

are they saying that all five year’s worth of CPD can be squeezed into the final year of revalidation?

Scrap that - I found this.

[BCOcean251]

This is getting out of hand. The NI is getting worse than the coastguard. More hoops to jump through.

[Chippin]

I think it might be a good time for the CG to take over DP licensing, if this doesn’t tip the scales in that direction not sure what will.

More shot to do on top of what we already have

[powerabout]

doesnt make sense
IMHO you just do a refresher once every 5 years? ( which includes the exam)

[Orniphobe]

@Chippin

I think it might be a good time for the CG to take over DP licensing…

I believe that was in a paper the US presented at the last IMO HTW meeting, among others. They’re working on the next STCW revision, still years away.

[KateGillespie]

I believe that some on the NI committee are from colleges - so maybe this was the end game all along - to get DPO’s back into the classroom.

Interestingly the DP refresher course syllabus does not match the CPD syllabus so I don’t see how now can be substituted for the other.

Robust CPD with company driven data does reduce risk …but it has to be done properly.

[KateGillespie]

Will be interesting to see how much if a push there is to move DP from STCW B Guidance into section A