March 11, 2003

New Zealand Maritime School Secures Prestigious Overseas Audit Contract

The New Zealand Maritime School in Auckland will soon be setting the benchmarks for maritime standards in the South Pacific, after winning a tender to review and audit the Secretariat of the Pacific Community's (SPC) regional maritime legal and training programme.

The prestigious contract to audit the SPC's programme is the first of its type that has been awarded to the school.

The school's director, Tim Wilson, says the contract is an acknowledgement that the school's standards and capabilities make it a leading maritime institution within the Asia Pacific region.

The contract was put out to tender in November and was awarded to the Maritime School only late last month, leaving it less than five weeks to complete the project, as the draft findings of the review are needed by the end of this month (March 31) for presentation to the Association of Pacific Island Maritime Training Institutions and Maritime Authorities.

Captain Wilson and three lecturers from the school will spend time in a variety of South Pacific countries, and in New Caledonia, where the SPC is based. As part of the contract, the Maritime School will also contract some of the work to Pacific Island nationals to assist in their skill development.

The SPC has more than 20 member countries and oversees regional maritime standards. The audit contract is worth around $50,000 and adds to overseas training contracts worth in excess of $2 million that have already been awarded to the school for this year.

Included in these successes is nearly $1.5 million in training contracts with the Secretariat for the Pacific Community. These are to provide in-country human resource development and to help with the build-up of regional maritime training skills within the Pacific area.

Captain Wilson says the school's success has been based on its strategic plan to boost its income through marketing its expertise within the Asia Pacific region.

The New Zealand Maritime School, part of the Manukau Institute of Technology, has been involved in maritime training since 1924.

Over the past two years the school has won other hotly-contested contracts totalling $2.2 million to lift the skills of more than 1400 people living in South Pacific countries, as part of a programme aimed at bringing shipping standards within the Pacific into line with the latest international maritime standards and practices.

Captain Wilson says interest in maritime training is increasing, with the school now accepting over 3000 enrolments each year and offering 105 different scheduled courses.

For further information:
Captain Tim Wilson
Director, New Zealand Maritime School
Telephone: 09 379-4997