Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy Varna ranked first among the "shirkers" from the provision of proper maritime training

A number of violations verging on fraud of the requirements for the conduct of qualification maritime activity over recent years came to light after the inspection of Klassa daily. The private investigation of the newspaper was based on the received inspection records pursuant to the Access to Public Information Act relating to the inspection on training centres.

The bulk of the detected offences committed at the Naval Academy confirm our daily's statements in a series of publications on the deteriorating quality of Bulgarian maritime education. This, in turn, prompted some foreign companies to reject Bulgarian qualification certificates. The inspections are the main reason for the tightening of requirements by the Executive Agency Maritime Administration (EAMA) in the drafting of the new Ordinance No. 6 on Seafarers' Competence in the Republic of Bulgaria which seek to introduce order in maritime education.

The most serious irregularities and fraud were detected in the pillar of maritime education - the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, Varna. In addition to the observations of the Inspection Commission, it turned out that a part of the equipment simulators used in maritime training fail to comply with the stipulated requirements. This means that the school's management was not entitled to use them, as well as issue qualification certificates to students before these had been updated. Nevertheless, the simulators were approved by the inspectors. One of the omissions is related to the Transas Navy Trainer Prof 4000. The Naval Academy declared that the trainer is certified but failed to submit any certificate. Instead, the educational institution presented a delivery contract from the year 2000. The interesting detail is that, at that time, this series did not exist - it was launched into production four years later. For the simulator ERS 4000, the Naval Academy presented a certificate whose validity expired a year earlier. Nevertheless, all trainers have been certified under Regulations III and IV of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (or STCW). Klassa's inspection, however, showed that these Convention Regulations deal with quite different issues.

Separately, some questions arise concerning the legitimacy of the ongoing qualification courses in the Varna Maritime School. The educational establishment was issued a certificate of quality control system by Lloyds Bulgaria. The scope of the system covers solely the higher education programme but not any qualification courses on special and additional training of seafarers (graduate professionals, but not students), which are expected to be subject to individual certification. The availability of a quality control system is a a mandatory requirement for receiving a license not only under the new but also under the old (and still effective) ordinance.

However, the absurdities do not end with the violations detected in the Varna Maritime School. Another is related to the inspection of the private training centre Yaniapress SPLTD, owned by the wife of the former Dean of the Faculty of Marine Science and Ecology at the Technical University (TU) of Varna, Atanas Krushev, about whose conflict of interest Klassa daily wrote already. According to the letter sent by EAMA's Director in Varna, Captain Valentin Enchev, after its arrival, the Commission was denied access to the training centre, which showed no readiness to be subject to an inspection. According to witnesses, the Commission members were literally driven out. Afterwards, the Agency's Regional Director demanded that a new date be scheduled for inspection, but subsequent verification was not implemented. The situation is similar at the Varna TU. The records of the institution do not show any concluded contracts for the use of other facilities. No valid certificates for the simulators were shown either. There are no contracts for maintenance staff and repairs.

The Commission discovered that the fire training area of the Zirconia company fails to comply with the training requirements, as well as that the Varna TU has no rescue boat which is a mandatory condition for having some of the courses. Four months later, EAMA's inspection discovered that only the negative observations concerning the welding laboratory had been dealt with, but the violations detected in the rest of the training courses continue unsanctioned and qualification certificates are still being issued.

Interesting questions were also raised by the inspection of the Naval High School-Burgas. The licensed person in charge of the maintenance of the simulators was ... an Inspector of EAMA in Burgas, which generally must conduct inspections of the centre rather than carry out the maintenance of its commercial activity.

According to the Director of Executive Agency Maritime Administration, Sergey Tsarnakliyski, the requirements for the inspection commissions are being increasingly enhanced in order to curb the influence of the subjective factors during the inspections. According to him, this has already began with the inclusion of external persons in the composition of the administration, as well as with the introduction of detailed checklists (questionnaires for the inspectors).

The inspection results for the Varna Maritime School and the Bulgarian Maritime Training Centre – Varna were the most positive. "Indeed, one of the inspection records contained several comments but these were negligible and were technically dealt with immediately,'' explained for Klassa, Captain Toma Tomov, Director of Bulgarian Maritime Training Centre (BMTC). According to him, currently, the training centre meets all international requirements for carrying out its training activity. According to the management of the Varna Maritime School, the good inspection results are due to the fact that the revenues obtained from training courses are continuously reinvested in the maintenance and upgrading of the school facility.

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