International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 1
Number 2
June 2007
221
The MarEng Project – a Tool for Enhancing
Safety in Navigation and Maritime Transport
B. Katarzynska
Gdynia Maritime University, Poland
ABSTRACT: In the paper the MarEng project is presented as a tool for enhancing safety in navigation and
maritime transport.
In recent years, increasing numbers of accidents
at sea and in ports have been attributed to the poor
level of verbal communication in English
irrespective whether it referred to the case of the
“Scandinavian Star” disaster in which the new crew
was not familiar with the ferry and could not
understand and communicate with the passengers
when the fire broke out or the rescue operation
during and after the sinking of the “Estonia” in the
Baltic Sea or occupational accidents on board ships
and in ports.
As nowadays multilingual and multinational
crews prevail on board ships, it is very important for
them to be able to communicate in a commonly
understood language, that is English, which is
widely used in maritime transport all over the world
in order to make the shipping and sea transport
operations safer and keep the seas cleaner. To be
able to do this, the crews must have some tools at
their disposal.
There have been various attempts at standardizing
the English language used at sea and they resulted in
the IMO recommendations for the implementation of
the Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary which
has recently been replaced by the IMO Standard
Marine Communication Phrases used in all maritime
universities and educational institutions.
Many teaching materials have been designed to
include Maritime English, as it is often called. Here,
I would like to present the MarEng project, which is
one of the EU projects in the Leonardo da Vinci
programme. It is a multi-media teaching and learning
tool aimed at both distance learners of Maritime
English on board ships or at home and students and
teachers at nautical colleges and maritime
universities all over the world.
Gdynia Maritime University is one of the partners
to the MarEng project.
The material-making partners include:
− University of Antwerp, Institute of Transport
and Maritime Management, Belgium.
− University of Antwerp, Department of Business
Communication, Belgium.
− University of La Laguna, School of Nautical
and Sea-related studies, English and German
Linguistic Studies, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
− University of Helsinki, Department of Translation
Studies, Finland.
− Aland Polytechnic, The Aland Maritime Institute
in Mariehamn, Finland.
− Sydvast Polytechnic, School of Maritime Studies
in Turku, Finland.
− Latvian Maritime Academy in Riga, Latvia.
− Gdynia Maritime Academy, Poland.
− University of Turku, Finland.
222
Centre for Maritime Studies in Turku, Finland,
has been the co-ordinator of the MarEng project and
the company Lingonet Oy, in Turku, Finland, has
been responsible for the task of putting the material
and the exercises into a multi-media format.
The MarEng is an international project aiming at
promoting the Maritime English competence of the
people working in various maritime professions in
different parts of the world.
The objective of the MarEng project is to produce
an innovative Maritime English language tool, which
will be available both for the students and the
teachers on the Internet.
It is aimed both at those studying in nautical
colleges and maritime academies on stationary basis
and for distance education students, so the intended
users include those actually working at sea as well as
a wide range of sea-related areas.
The MarEng material is suitable for different
language levels and has been divided into
intermediate level and advanced level. It is based on
language used on board ships, in ports, in shipping
companies and in the shipping environment.
Intermediate level materials cover the following
sections:
1 In Port.
2 The Ship and her crew.
3 Leaving port.
4 In the Fairway.
5 On the Watch – a working day on board.
6 A Storm – Mayday, Mayday.
7 An Accident on board.
8 Trespassing – An encounter with the Coast
Guard.
9 Approaching the port of destination.
The MarEng learning material in the intermediate
level section is based on the idea of a virtual ship
on a voyage from the port of Santander in Spain to
the port of Kotka in Finland, calling at a number of
ports on the way. During the voyage, the crew of the
mv “Marina” faces a number of routine situations
as well as some unusual ones in which Maritime
English is used both on board ship and in port
loading and discharging operations. Most of
the texts have been recorded as well as numerous
vocabulary and grammar exercises have been
provided. There is also a section on maritime
glossary with explanations in each of the sections.
There are clear instructions on how to use the
programme and the students can listen to recordings
as many times as they wish to do so.
The Advanced level materials correspond to the
topics covered in the intermediate level sections and
include:
Ad 1 Port operations and Cargo Handling,
Shipping and Maritime Management
Ad 2 Types of Vessels
Navigation Bridge, Navigation
Instruments
Cargo Space
Engine Room
Ad 3 Port State Control
Ad 4 Navigation, Seamarks, Lights,
Lighthouses
Vessel Traffic Services
Ad 5 A Working Day on Board
Ad 6 Radio Communication
Weather reports, Navtex
Ad 7 An accident on board – Radio Medical
Search and Rescue
Helicopter Rescue
Ad 8 Security Issues, ISPS Code
Ad 9 Ice Navigation
VTS
Pilotage
The materials have been evaluated and tested by
Advisory Partners including:
− APEC Antwerp/Flanders Port Training Centre
in Belgium,
− Finnish Ship Officers Union, Finland,
− National Board of Education, Finland,
− Oy Rettig Ab Bore, Finland,
− Maritime Administration of Latvia.
The MarEng project started in November 2004
and finished in April 2007. Its final product is a web-
based Maritime English learning tool in the form of
an organized database of various Maritime English
teaching and learning materials and a CDrom.
The MarEng material can be used online in the
college classroom, in distance learning and for self-
study purposes. There are not only recorded texts but
a number of different exercises which the students
are encouraged to do. Some parts of the MarEng
material are also available in the PDF format. The
entire MarEng tool will be available on the Internet
in 2007, free of charge. However, user registration
will be required.
The project has been partly funded by EU
Leonardo da Vinci programme.
Those interested in it are welcome to visit the
web-page of the MarEng project
http:// mareng.utu.fi
Using the MarEng materials in practice will
hopefully improve the knowledge of Maritime
English among the multi-lingual crews resulting in
better communication on board, safer port operations
and maritime transport.
