What is STCW

The term STCW refers to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers and was adopted in 1978 by conference at the International Maritime Organization and amended in 1995 and again in 2010. In simple terms it is an international maritime training framework aimed to enable a seafarer to work on any flag vessel with standardised certification. The STCW Basic Safety Training course is a 5 day training package that is mandatory for seafarers, this represents the minimum accepted maritime training level. The STCW course is still sometimes referred to as 'STCW 95' however there was an update in 2010, so it can also be referred to as 'STCW 2010'. The correct name for this course is STCW Basic Safety Training, there is no requirement to specify the amendment dates, and no centres provide the old STCW 95 course. STCW Basic Safety Training course are approved by a countries Maritime Organisation, in the case of Allabroad this is the United Kingdom Maritime & Coastgaurd Agency (MCA)