Common Core Curriculum: Sulphur Inspectors

25 participants from 17 EU Member States, Iceland, and Norway and six participants from four beneficiary countries to the IPA/ENP projects have successfully completed the common Core Curriculum for Sulphur Inspectors developed by EMSA within the context of the EMSA Academy.

The Curriculum is organized in three phases with eight units, covering a wide spectrum of learning areas such as general legal and technical requirements, pre-boarding information analysis, on-board fuel-based methods and abatement methods, sampling process, tools & equipment, reporting and logging, data management and health and safety requirements.  

It was delivered in a blended mode from 15 February to 28 April 2024. Participants followed an asynchronous part covering the above-mentioned areas with three live sessions and the use of the Virtual Reality Environment for Ship Inspections (VRESI) for ship familiarisation purposes. The content of the course included also a three day in-person session at EMSA’s premises in Lisbon. During the three days, participants had the opportunity to go through specific case studies, reporting exercise into THETIS-EU database and collective work into groups.

This curriculum is designed to develop the necessary individual competencies for carrying out duties associated with the inspection of ships for compliance with the international and EU instruments regarding the limits of sulphur in marine fuels (MARPOL Annex VI and the EU Sulphur Directive). It aims to provide learners with the opportunity to increase the knowledge, skills and attributes required to carry out inspections professionally, efficiently, and effectively and to the required standards established by law and benchmarked industry practice.

It is an ISO 29993:2017 certified learning service outside formal education developed by the EMSA Academy and it is delivered on the Maritime Knowledge Centre (MaKCs), the eLearning Platform of the Agency.