February -16- Antwerp Port Authority aims to train 16 job-seekers as merchant seamen this year in collaboration with the job training company Levanto.

Participants in the programme do not need to have even basic knowledge of seafaring, as they will receive theoretical and practical training both from the Port Authority and from Levanto. Furthermore, they will be paid for the whole year of the programme.

 

The first trainees will be ready to begin work as seamen in the spring of 2010. Before the launch of this project, there were two ways into a maritime career at Antwerp: applications from people who already have relevant experience, such as barge transport or graduates of the KTA Zwijndrecht/Cenflumarin training centre on the left bank of the Scheldt.