Evaluation of the Maritime Education, Training and Certification System in Pakistan

This report presents the results of the evaluation of the maritime education, training and certification system of Pakistan, carried out by assessors from Lloyd’s Register International between 22nd February and 31st March 2021. The evaluation was to reassess the system for compliance to the latest requirements of the STCW Convention and Code. The evaluation included reviews of the Directorate General (Ports and Shipping (DG-P&S) head office in Karachi, Pakistan, and visits to two maritime training institutions, the Maritime Training Institute and the Seamen Training Wing, both in Karachi. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions on travel the reviews were conducted by video conference and exchanges of documents and records. Brief physical visits were conducted to the training institutes to evaluate the physical facilities at the institutes. A total of seven findings were identified, three of which are graded as a Shortcomings and four as Observations. Shortcomings are areas where the STCW Convention or Code is not being fully complied with and need to be corrected. A detailed description of each Finding is included in Section 8 of this report. The system for maritime education, training and certification in Pakistan is considered to be well established, adequately defined and implemented to meet most of the requirements of the STCW Code. Although there are outstanding Shortcomings, they all relate to the management of the certification quality system and have no direct impact on the effectiveness of the seafarer certification processes The results of this evaluation indicate that further work is required to refine the certification quality system and so meet all the relevant provisions of the STCW Convention in Pakistan, in accordance with regulation I/8 of the Convention and section A-I/7, paragraphs 4 to 6 of the Code. For full report click here