History

With headquarters in Svendborg and another centre in Denmark in Esbjerg, the Group now extends to Aberdeen and Newcastle in the UK, Chennai in India and Port Harcourt in Nigeria. Cooperative projects in Norway and the Middle East means that new centres are due to come online this year. The new company works as a principal training institution to the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group but is also open to all companies and has valued external customers such as ConocoPhillips, Siemens Wind Power, Torm and other major companies in the focus industries.

The company started after an accident in the North Sea on an oil rig which was, after an investigation, put down to their being a gap between certification and capabilities. Part of the A.P. Moller – Maersk philosophy is built around the belief that preparation and awareness through ‘constant care’ should eliminate unnecessary accidents. Moving into temporary premises which were to last twenty years, the first students were all oilmen, but quickly, in the town which was home to the Møller family, maritime courses were added and soon grew to become the biggest department.

Technological knowledge was not all that was required and coaching in personal and personnel techniques were added through People Skills and then Safety and Security, reflecting the demands of the times, grew to stand alone.

The past five years have seen the greatest period of growth as the Centre responded to industry needs for ‘on the doorstep’ training. With permanent centres set up in India and the United Kingdom, instructors also travelled the world to conduct courses. The ability to take training to those who need it was underlined by the introduction of CraneSIM, a specially designed crane simulator which was housed in a 40’ container so that it could be transported to any dockside where there was a need to efficiently and quickly train new drivers. This lead to the founding of the fifth department, Terminals & Logistics.

At the same time another company within the APMM Group, Svitzer Salvage, were responding to the need for very specialized training in the offshore world in terms of survival and safety. Based in the North Sea port of Esbjerg they expanded to other energy hubs in Aberdeen and Port Harcourt and now through the merger have come under the combined Maersk Training umbrella.

This year saw the opening of MOSAIC, Maersk Offshore Simulation and Innovation Centre, which represents a commitment to taking learning to new higher levels with probably the most advanced sea-related simulators currently available. At the Svendborg complex over 70 precise vessels can be created at the press of a button and using architect drawings and performance data, they are able to exactly mimic situations virtually anywhere on the planet.

The story doesn’t end there, nor is it confined to valuable technology – at Maersk Training we put as much energy into a one-off course conducted in a rented hotel suite in St John’s Newfoundland as we do in the helicopter crash simulator in Nigeria. The story ends, or pauses until the next chapter only after we have delivered, what we sum up in our slogan, the best learning experience.