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THE Vocational Training Council (VTC) is to upgrade facilities at the Tai Lam Chung Seamen Training Centre with an investment of about $1 million, according to its executive director Horace Knight.

  He said the centre bought a derrick for $875,000 and radar equipment for $70,000 out of funds allocated to the centre for this financial year to March 31.

  The equipment will be installed this month.

  'Although we have no expansion plans for the centre, it does not mean we do not keep the training up to date,' Mr Knight said.

   'Besides providing courses to satisfying international conventions, we regularly review and update our courses to meet changing demands of the industry as indicated by the Merchant Navy Board.'   There was good response to the courses planned by the centre and the centre was unlikely to close down, he said.

  The centre had been set up because the Government wanted it to be set up, he said.

  Mr Knight argued that the centre, like all other centres managed by the VTC, planned its annual training programme.

  For 1995-96, the centre has places for 2,500 trainees.

  For 1994-95, the training places offered by the centre were all taken.

  The centre is managed by a centre manager, chief instructor, three senior instructors and nine instructors.

  Of the two main categories of courses offered, one is to meet the International Maritime Organisation's International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, and the other to either upgrade skills of seafarers or prepare them for examinations set by the Marine Department.

  The centre also provides courses on safety and sea-going training for students.

  'Whatever we do, we do it cost effectively. The number of instructors we have is adequate for the courses we offer,' Mr Knight said.

  Mr Knight said Hong Kong people were less willing to go to sea as land-based jobs were easier to find.

  He said the centre was tied up with the Hong Kong shipping registry and so it was important to train seafarers so as not to be regarded as a flag of convenience.

  Hong Kong residents were not charged for the training courses offered by the centre and non-Hong Kong residents were charged the direct costs of providing such a service, Mr Knight said.

  He said the centre had about two or three mainlanders enrolled for courses but regarded them as non-Hong Kong residents.

  The training centre paid a $150-a-week allowance to new trainees but those employed were expected to meet their own expenses, Mr Knight said.

   He said the trainees were also expected to meet their own living expenses even though the allowance was small.



VTC acquires equipment to boost training