DATES

Sea Going Familiarization

his is a period of 60 days seagoing DP experience during which the prospective DPO has to complete the majority of the tasks section of the The Nautical Institute's Dynamic Positioning Operator's logbook. 

All tasks must be completed prior to acceptance into the advanced course. Furthermore, the attention of those responsible for signing this section is drawn to the need to accurately complete this section. Although the prospective DPO should have manual ship handling experience before commencing his/her DP training, this task should not be signed off unless the Master or Competent Officer is satisfied that the prospective DPO has satisfactorily completed this task.

These tasks should not be block signed. Each should be an indication that the prospective DPO has satisfactorily completed the task. The Institute suggests that DPOs take every opportunity afforded to handle their vessels in manual control. If the Master is the holder of the logbook and there is no suitable person to sign the tasks and the declaration in section C, then he/she may sign them but must provide an additional declaration signed by either their relief or a company Manager. The additional declaration can be obtained from the Institute or downloaded from The Nautical Institute website.

Sea Going Familiarization

To be eligible for the issue of a DPO certificate, the prospective DPO must have logged the appropriate amount of DP time, for the certificate being applied for, on a DP Classed vessel. The certificate issued will be dependent upon the DP class of the vessels on which he/she has served.

Competent Officer:

A deck officer who holds a DP Certificate and a STCW Certificate of Competency issued by a Maritime Administration on the IMO white list.

Unsupervised DP sea service:

When a DP Operator (Senior or Junior) forms part of a two man DP watch.

Supervised DP sea service:

When a trainee DP Operator is the third person on the DP watch and never operates the equipment unless under supervision by a qualified Senior DPO.

A DP Classed vessel means the vessel must have a DP class notation and not simply be fitted with DP equipment.

Those prospective DPOs seeking certification are required to enter the dates on which they operated the DP system aboard the vessel. There has been some misunderstanding in regard to the dates entered in the logbook for joining and leaving the DP vessel. The dates recorded in the logbook should only be for the time the vessel was undertaking DP Operations. The logbook should not be used as a seaman's book or discharge book. The DP time should be carefully and accurately entered in this section. It is important that the DP class and the DP system are entered. The rank entry should include an indication that the prospective DPO had responsibility for the DP. Thus if operating the DP system rather than 2nd Mate the entry should be DPO/2nd Mate.

Calculating Watchkeeping Time to Apply to the Nautical Institute for your DPO Certificate.

Please use the information below to calculate whether you qualify for a Limited or Full / Unlimited DP Certificate. When you apply online, the built in calculator will tell you whether or not you have enough DP time to qualify for a certificate and if so, what type. If you are not yet ready to apply for your certificate, but just want to check if you have enough DP sea time a DP certificate calculator is also available in the DP section of the Nautical Institute website.

• DP1 classed vessels only

120 days watchkeeping on board DP1 vessels = Limited Certificate

• DP2 classed vessels only

120 days watch keeping on board DP2 or 3 vessels = Full/Unlimited Certificate

• Mixed classed DP vessels

If you have served on board various classed vessels and want to obtain a Full / Unlimited Certificate then watchkeeping time must include at least 60 days DP2 or DP3 time.

Please note from July 1, 2011 the Nautical Institute will require additional verification of your DP sea time before you can be issued with an N.I. DPO certificate of competency.

Please ask your instructor, an MPT career counselor or refer to the Nautical Institute Logbook Instruction Booklet for more information.



Validity of Previous Sea time (DP sea time before induction course)

The Nautical Institute will continue to accept up to a maximum of 30 days DP sea time recorded before the Induction course for those who entered into the DP scheme prior to 1 January 2015. Applications received under the old scheme rules at The Nautical Institute headquarters will be evaluated and honoured under the previous regulation.

Those who have entered the training scheme after 1 January 2015 will subject to the requirements of the new scheme criteria. This means that DP sea time obtained prior to the Induction course will not be acceptable and not counted towards the DP sea time claimed by the trainee DPO. This is to enable better evaluation of trainee DPOs during the training scheme.



Minimum Maritime Qualification

The minimum maritime qualifications to begin DPO training are listed below:

Candidates must hold one of the following Certificates of Competency or be in training towards the issuance of an acceptable CoC as explained below.

• II/1 Deck Officers in charge of a navigational watch on ships of 500 GRT or more.
• II/2 Deck Master and chief mate on ships of 3,000 GRT or more.
• II/3 Deck Officers in charge of a navigational watch and of masters on ships of less than 500 GRT.
• III/1 Engine Officers in charge of an engineering watch in a manned engine room or designated duty engineers in a periodically unmanned engine room.
• III/2 Engine Chief engineer officers and 2nd engineer officers on ships powered by main propulsion machinery of 3,000kw propulsion power or more.
• III/3 Engine Chief engineer officers and 2nd engineer officers on ships powered by main propulsion machinery of between 750kw and 3,000 kw propulsion.
• III/6 Electro Technical Officer

Alternative qualifications will be considered on a case by case basis by the Nautical Institute. Examples are: Marine Vocational Qualifications which are non STCW CoC's issued by white list countries for use in the administration's local waters only.

Following the Manila STCW Amendments of 2010, the Nautical Institute revised the training requirements which became effective January 1, 2012.

Due to this requirement, one of the following certificates of competency or proof that you are in the process of obtaining an STCW qualification must be presented to MPT to register for the DP Basic Course.

When registering for the Advanced DP Course , you will need to present your nautical institute log book with 60 days DP sea service.