INLAND SHIPPING

Basic information about the programme

The Inland Shipping programme comprises two specialisations:

  1. Operation of Maritime and Inland Units,
  2. Inland Shipping Management.

Graduates of the Faculty of Navigation and the Inland Shipping programme are trained in two ways. The curriculum is based on the STCW Convention at operational level. Upon completion of the programme, each graduate has the opportunity to obtain a diploma entitling them to hold officer posts on seafaring vessels. Another career path for graduates of this programme may be a career in international inland shipping. This is possible because of specialist curricular course units which concern work in the broadly-understood inland waterway industry. These courses cover not only the operation of inland vessels, but also management of the inland transport process. This gives the opportunity to work in forwarding and logistics companies. A high emphasis is placed on teaching both English and German, which provide employment opportunities in the inland fleet within the European Union in the position of captain. The curriculum also includes the study of liquefied gas transport and operation of LNG terminals.

Practical training (work placements) within the Inland Shipping programme will be carried out both on seagoing vessels, ferries and school ships, as well as on inland vessels such as barges and pushers, and in forwarding and logistics companies. Completion of the programme guarantees work in Poland as well as in other European Union countries, where captains’ wages range from 600 to 800 Euro per day.

Duration of the programme and number of hours

The programme lasts for 3.5 years (7 semesters). The total number of course hours is 2757 per person, including:

  • 1071 hours of lectures for all students in the same year
  • 527 hours of general classes (for groups of 32)
  • 1159 hours of laboratories (for groups of 16)

Training courses included in the curriculum

Within the curriculum of the Inland Shipping programme students are provided with numerous STCW training courses, such as:

  1. Personal Survival Techniques;
  2. Basic Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting;
  3. Elementary First Aid;
  4. Personal Safety and Social Responsibilities;
  5. Security awareness;
  6. For seafarers with designated security duties;
  7. Utilizing of radar and ARPA - operational level;
  8. GMDSS – ROC;
  9. Hazardous cargo carriage on vessels;
  10. Operational use electronic chart display and information systems;
  11. Bridge resource management.

Labs and simulators

During their classes, students of the Inland Shipping programme are able to use specialized teaching facilities of the Maritime University of Szczecin. The teaching facilities include, among others, these simulators:

  1. Ship Manoeuvring Simulator;
  2. Manoeuvring Simulator for Inland Navigation Units;
  3. ECDIS Simulator;
  4. LNG Transport Technology Centre – Liquid Cargo Handling Simulator;
  5. ARPA Simulator;
  6. GMDSS Simulator;
  7. VTS Simulator;
  8. Virtual Ship Inspection Simulator.

Differences between the Inland Shipping programme and the Sea Transport Specialisation of the Navigation programme

In the case of Inland Shipping (for both specialisations):

  1. Graduates are assigned an STCW operational level, not a management level. In addition, graduates obtain an inland shipping captain diploma after 180 days of practical training, provided they reach the operational level after 365 days of seagoing work placement. In order to obtain the diploma on management level on seagoing vessels, graduates of Inland Shipping must complete an additional six-month course. By contrast, graduates of the Maritime Transport Specialisation of the Navigation programme have the contents of this course included in the curriculum.
  2. Specialised course units are those typically related to Inland Shipping.
  3. Inland Shipping Management specialized course units (management, port operation, port facilities, transport economics) are taught at the Faculty of Engineering and Economics of Transport; however, graduates also have the opportunity to obtain a diploma at the operational level, and a Captain of Inland Shipping diploma.
  4. Students will be trained both on sea and inland vessels.
  5. An inland vessel manoeuvring simulator and an ECDIS simulator adapted to inland waterways and inland vessel models are used for the training.