ABSTRACT: Shipping is by nature a genuinely international activity, with strict requirements for harmonized and equal training, regardless of where it is conducted. IMO?s model courses aims to give guidance in this respect. However, each signatory party to STCW-95 is free to set its own standards for the training. Around the world this has led to the unfortunate situation where there is not only variation in form, but also in content of the actual training that is being performed. The project Securitas Mare or "Safe Seas" was promoted through the EU's Leonardo da Vinci program to address one aspect of this particular problem and aimed to create a common European standard for Crowd and Crisis Management training. The project had 15 partners, amongst them 10 MET institutions and the course concept thus created has today been accepted as an alternative standard in 6 of the participating countries. Presently a continuation has been started, in October 2006, to continue to spread the projects result through a so called Transfer of innovation-project. This presentation deals with the aims and results of the course and the project, describes the 15 project partners, the excellent results achieved as well as the projects future aims for specialized training also for shore side staff and other categories of seagoing personnel not covered by today's requirements.

KEYWORDS: Safety at Sea, Crowd and Crisis Management (CCM), STCW-95, Maritime Education and Training (MET), Bridge Resource Management (BRM), Transfer of Innovation, Crew Resource Management (CRM), Human Factor (HF)

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