site.btaBulgarian Marine Experts Among Highest in Demand on Market - Expert

Bulgarian Marine Experts Among Highest in Demand on Market - Expert

Varna, on the Danube, July 14 (BTA) - Bulgarian marine experts
are among the highest in demand on the market, and data show
that each year there are around 40 navigators, 40 ship
technicians and 10 ship electronics technicians on average
graduating from the Technical University of Varna, Assoc. Prof.
Chavdar Ormanov, who heads the Navigation, Transport Management
and Waterways Preservation Department at this university, told
BTA.
  
According to Ormanov, Bulgaria's education system has to respond
 adequately to the demand and produce cadres who are well-paid.
The Technical University of Varna has been preparing marine
cadres for 20 years and its approximately 800 graduates have a
good name and image as experts in the marine circles.

Captain Andrey Stanev, hardware manager and lecturer at the
Technical University of Varna, told BTA that the world market is
 experiencing a shortage of around 80,000 naval officers. In
this relation, the university has constructed and expanded a
navigation simulation training centre for captains with funding
from the EU-backed Operational Programme Development of the
Competitiveness of the Bulgarian Economy (2007-2013), he said.
The training centre's equipment conforms with the new
technologies for ship navigation with dynamic positioning, in
accordance wit the latest requirements of the International
Maritime Organization for students' simulation training, the
expert specified.

According to Ormanov, the most important acquisition is the
marine virtual environment in which the training is conducted.
Statistics shows that over 80 per cent of marine accidents
result from a human error, therefore the preparation of the
command crew is extremely important for the safety of
navigation, he said. The new navigation simulator imitates
conditions that are as close as possible to the real ones, and
gives students the opportunity to see the surroundings from a
bird's eye view. The instructors have created computer scenarios
 based on the training's needs in accordance with the
dynamically changing meteorological situation, Ormanov
explained.
       
The expansion of the navigation simulation training centre also
includes simulations of the contemporary systems for servicing
oil platforms and assisting in emergency and rescue activities,
he added.