Petrofac Training Services Celebrates Marine Training Milestone

Our Training Services business is celebrating another milestone after its industry-leading freefall lifeboat made its 500th drop.

The freefall lifeboat system, which is used on many ships and oil and gas platforms worldwide, uses gravity to propel the lifeboat into the sea and clear of any danger. The freefall facility installed at our Marine Training Centre in Aberdeen is based on a Verhoef lifeboat and is the only one approved for training oil and gas personnel in the UK.

Thousands of trainees from the oil and gas and shipping industries have achieved the necessary marine safety qualifications at the Marine Training Centre since it was upgraded in 2011. The facility includes the country’s largest fleet of training vessels, including fast rescue craft and twinfall and singlefall lifeboats, in addition to the freefall lifeboat.

The recent investment in the site also included the addition of a new Fast Rescue Craft (FRC), bringing the existing fleet to 16. A second FRC davit has also been installed to provide an additional type of launch system.

George Masson, Survival and Marine Team Leader at Petrofac Training Services, and who has a Royal Navy background and 23 years service with the Company, said: “The strong demand for our services - which has resulted in this milestone being reached in such a short period of time - is a vote of confidence from the industry not only in our facilities, but also in our ability to provide high quality competency-led training for those working in some of the world’s harshest environments.

“We are very proud of our facilities and have more than 30 years history of providing marine training to not only the energy sector but also to a variety of other industries.”