Crew trainers see more business as superyachts get bigger

Crew trainers see more business as superyachts get bigger. Photo by Yachting Pages.

The Yachting Pages reports that as more yacht officers upgrade their yacht restricted certificates of competency to full “Unlimited” merchant navy qualifications, yacht crew trainers are seeing increased bookings, especially due to the bulging size of superyachts.

If yacht officers hold a restricted certificate of competency such as the officer of the watch or chief mate (Yachts less than 3,000GT), industry leaders are saying this will hinder their job prospects due to the increasing demand for 3000GT+ yachts.

Lars Lippuner, director at Warsash Superyacht Academy said, “We see many yacht officers returning to “upgrade” their yacht restricted certificates of competency to full “Unlimited” merchant navy qualifications, a demand driven by the increase in the number of yachts above 3,000GT and yachts coded to the Passenger Yacht code, which all require officers with unlimited certification.”

This growth would have been evident at one of last year’s most prestigious yachting events, the Monaco Yacht Show. Visitors would have seen the average length of the boats on show was 47m, 15m bigger when comparing it to the to 32m average when the event first started.

The increase in both the number and size of yachts has also meant more crew course bookings in general with Warsash reporting “big year-on-year increases in the numbers of students of up to 50%.” This is because quite simply there are more yachts to look after, requiring more crew.

Lars finished by saying, “Up-skilling from crew to officers’ rank, and from restricted to unrestricted officers’ qualifications continue to be factors that drive increased yacht sector demand for maritime education and training.”

Many yacht officers are “upgrading” their yacht restricted certificates of competency to full “Unlimited” merchant navy qualifications. Photo by Yachting Pages.