Well-trained seafarers are essential to safe ship navigation in Polar waters and IMO has been playing its part with a training course for maritime instructors, underway in Valparaíso, Chile (18-22 November).

The course is training participants from maritime training institutions in South America responsible for training seafarers – with a focus on IMO’s Polar Code. The code, when properly applied, is a powerful tool for safeguarding the environment and protecting the lives of seafarers and passengers in the challenging polar regions.

It entered into force in January 2017 – setting out mandatory standards covering the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training and environmental protection matters that apply to ships operating in the inhospitable waters surrounding the two poles.

The training course is supporting the participants develop competence-based training programmes, update existing programmes and improve the use of relevant IMO model courses.

More information about the Polar Code, including videos and infographics, can be found here.