Partners

The Department of Water Transport is one of the profile departments of the Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications at the University of Žilina in Žilina. The Department was established in 1991 as a result of the lack of well-qualified staff who could work in the field of inland navigation in Slovakia. The study of water transport is modern, innovative, and interesting. The theoretical training is of high quality, including subjects recommended by practice. The innovative study includes a virtual environment in which students verify the acquired knowledge on a vessel control simulator in the department’s specialized laboratory. Students will support their theoretical knowledge in practice through excursions in ports, transhipments, waterworks, and institutions dealing with water transport. The Department of Water Transport closely cooperates with practices and companies that are among the largest and best in the field of water transport:

• Ministry of Transport of the Slovak Republic,
• Transport Authority, Inland Navigation Division,
• SPAP, a.s.,
• LOD, a.s.
• Verejné prístavy, a.s.,
• Slovenský vodohospodársky podnik,
• DHL International Slovakia, s.r.o.,
• Kuehne+Nagel and other.

The “Schiffer Berufskolleg RHEIN” in Duisburg is nationally unique with its professional focus on the topics of ships and ports, boasting a tradition of around 130 years.

Duisburg, the port, and inland shipping are closely connected. It is logical, therefore, that the professional group of inland sailors, with their specific requirements, also has its educational home in Duisburg. Unlike other professional groups, inland sailors, due to the nature of their training vessels – inland ships that travel all across Europe from the Black Sea to the Atlantic – cannot attend vocational school classes on a weekly basis as part of their dual education.

Hence, on January 18, 1892, in close proximity to the largest inland port in Duisburg, the first school class for the training of inland sailors was established. Today, the Seafarer Vocational College RHEIN in Duisburg-Homberg educates more than 350 aspiring inland sailors annually using a block system. Apprentices come to Duisburg for an average of 13 weeks each year for schooling, spending the rest of the year on ships in Europe with shipping companies or private shipowners.

CERONAV is a self-financed public national institution subordinated to the Ministry of Transport, set up in 1976 and currently providing over 200 courses, under STCW 2010 and beyond, for seafarers and river, port and offshore rig personnel. CERONAV has an experience of over 40 years in waterborne training and gained international recognition as leading centre in South East Europe. CERONAV’s teaching staff consists of captains, chief engineers and electricians with extensive experience at sea and solid knowledge of maritime and inland navigation. 85 trainers and other 138 employees working in economic, commercial, administrative and other departments currently ensure well-functioning of the organization for an average of 12.000 trainees per year, according to the figures of 2017 – 2019 period. CERONAV operates in 2 premises and a training campus in Constanta equipped with performant simulators and practical training facilities and has a unit specialized in training of inland navigation personnel as well as an Information and Training Centre in Galati.

The University of Craiova (Romanian: Universitatea din Craiova) is a public university located in Craiova, Romania. It was founded in 1947, initially with four institutes, in the Palace of Justice of Craiova. It is the largest university in the historical Oltenia province of Romania. It was the last university established in the Kingdom of Romania. It was the fifth university in Romania officially approved by the Ministerial Council of the Socialist Republic of Romania in 1965, with seven faculties: Mathematics, Philology, Electrotechnics, Agriculture, Horticulture, Chemistry and Economics. The university is a member of the European University Association. It currently includes a total of 16 faculties and two colleges for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

The Maritime Academy provides education for all navigation areas (inland navigation, coastal navigation, maritime navigation) and logistical port activities. It covers a range of professions, from skipper to ship engineer, from sailor to captain, and from port operations staff to port, transport, and logistics manager. With a seamless transition between different levels in preparatory, secondary, and higher vocational education.