450+ officer cadets to train at the National Maritime College of Ireland premises in Cork

GAC Training & Service Solutions, the maritime training arm of global shipping, logistics and marine services provider GAC and the National Maritime College of Ireland, has been awarded a four-year training contract with Chevron Shipping Company. It is the largest maritime training contract ever to be awarded in Ireland.

Under the new agreement, GTSS will train Chevron Shipping’s junior officer corps with basic skills training and provide engine room workshop skills for its junior engineers. Over the course of four years, more than 450 officers from around the world will receive maritime training through GTSS at the state-of-the-art National Maritime College of Ireland facility in Cork, Ireland.

The NMCI is a government facility, falling under the responsibility of Ireland’s Ministry for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, which has recently launched a trade mission to develop job opportunities, trade and investment in the country. Minister, Richard Bruton TD, welcomed the news of the contract: “At the centre of our action plan for jobs is delivering a powerful engine of exporting Irish industry, and as part of that plan we have doubled the number of trade missions since taking office. Today’s announcement by Irish organisation GTSS that it has won a major training contract with Chevron Shipping Company is a great example of the type of thing we are trying to support. Here is an Irish organisation, winning deals with a major US company, increasing its export sales and ultimately creating jobs in Ireland. I wish both parties every success with this project.”

The contract was signed at a ceremony at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC 2014) in Houston, Texas (USA), attended by Terry Luke, Manager, Marine Employee Learning & Development, Chevron Shipping Company; Conor Mowlds, Director of GTSS and Head of the National Maritime College of Ireland, and Minister Richard Bruton TD.

Conor Mowlds adds: “This agreement is testament to the high regard in which GTSS’s services are held by one of the world’s foremost shipping companies, and further strengthens the NMCI’s reputation as a world-class institution. We shall work closely with Chevron to deliver first class training for every one of their cadets who will walk through our doors over the course of the next four years.”