Seafarer trainers build LNG fuel training skills in Japan

Seafarer trainers from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam have strengthened their expertise in preparing crews for LNG-fuelled ships, through an advanced practical workshop held in Ashiya and Yokosuka, Japan (28 October - 1 November 2025).

The subregional "train-the-trainer" workshop offered hands-on and simulator-based training on the safe operation of ships using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel.

It forms part of a three-year project jointly implemented by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to boost regional capacity for high-quality training on alternative-fuel operations.

Building on the first workshop in 2024, this year's programme deepened participants' instructional and technical skills in LNG bunkering, emergency response and advanced simulator exercises. Training combined classroom lectures at the Marine Technical College in Ashiya, simulator sessions replicating LNG bunkering, and live emergency drills using LNG (-162°C) at the Maritime Disaster Prevention Centre (MDPC) in Yokosuka. Participants practiced with Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), LNG detection, emergency measures for leakage, and firefighting techniques for handling low-temperature LNG safely.

Trainers from maritime academies and training centres will apply these skills to improve courses in their home institutions, helping ensure seafarers can operate LNG and other alternative-fuelled ships safely and effectively.

The course content was based on the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) Convention and Code, and IMO Model Courses 7.13 and 7.14, covering basic and advanced training requirements for personnel on ships subject to the International Code of Safety for Ship Using Gases or Other Low-flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code).

Co-organized by Japan's MLIT and the IMO Secretariat under the IMO Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP), the event was supported by the Nippon Foundation, the Japan Ship Technology Research Association (JSTRA), and the Japan Agency of Maritime Education and Training for Seafarers (JMETS).

This initiative supports IMO's wider efforts to build global capacity for training seafarers in alternative fuels and new technologies, promoting a safer and more sustainable maritime future.

• For more information, please see: Preparing seafarers for the energy transition