V.Group opens new seafarer training center in Manila

The maritime services provider’s new facility includes mission bridge and engine room simulators, a culinary and hospitality instruction center, two housekeeping training areas, and a full suite of classrooms and auditoriums.    Maritime services provider V.Group, in conjunction with third party ship management subsidiary V.Ships, has opened a new office and seafarer training center in Manila, Philippines. The 6,700-square-meter facility is located in the Aseana II building and will house a workforce of over 270 management and administrative employees.
   V.Group said in a statement the new training center represents the largest single investment in the company’s history and it expects the Aseana City district “to become the next business capital of the Philippines.”
   The facilities at V.Group’s new training center include mission bridge and engine room simulators, a culinary and hospitality instruction center, two housekeeping training areas, and a full suite of classrooms and auditoriums. The company estimates 1000 seafarers registered with the group on the center’s opening day.
   Local partners Pacific Ocean Manning, North Sea Marine, V.Manpower and Kestral Shipping Inc. will also occupy office space in the new complex.
   “The strategic new opening is testament to the importance of the Philippines as the principal recruitment ground for professional crew in the world,” the company said.
   “These new offices will increase our capacity to manage and train seafarers with a wide range of skills to the highest international standards,” added Jamie Stewart, V.Group/V.Ships representative in the Philippines. “We are now able to offer a service facility which is second to none and includes recruitment, technical training, culinary training, operations, commercial, purchasing, technical support and IT which positions the Group at the heart of not only Asia, but the global shipping community.”
   V.Group is the world’s leading provider of outsourced maritime services to the commercial shipping and cruise industries, delivering technical management and support through V.Ships; seafarer recruitment, management and training; procurement, and ship supply chain management.