CONSORTEX Partners Hosted by CIT

Representatives from seven partner regions arrived in Cork on 12th June for a two day meeting of the CONSORTEX project - European Internationalisation Maritime Consortia in the shipbuilding & ancillary industries.

On Tuesday afternoon the CONSORTEX partners had a tour of National Maritime College of Ireland one of CITs four campus. The tour of NMCI which was facilitated by Paul Shanahan and Maria Looney of the Halpin Research Centre, and included a visit to the charting facilities, the sea survival, firefighting and damage control training facilities on campus. All undergraduate students attending courses at NMCI have to undertake the sea survival, firefighting and damage control modules before being validated to work at sea.

The tour also included a demonstration in the Marine 270° Full-mission Bridge Simulator from Gavin McCarthy of the Irish Navy. The state of the art simulator which is used for training Navigation and Engineering personnel who work on board ships, was set up for partners to bring a naval vessel into Cork harbour. Simulations of all major harbours across the globe are available from the simulator to give student teams and visitors the best in training facilities to prepare for a career at sea.

After the NMCI tour, the partners were taken on a Grand Harbour Adventure Tour by Cork Sea Safari. The two hour tour included an in-depth look at Cork Harbour and all the highlights that make it so special. Including breath taking views of the harbours major attractions including Cobh, Roches Point Lighthouse, Spike Island, Haulbowline, Crosshaven, forts Camden & Carlisle as well as some of Cork’s beautiful bays and coves.

On Wednesday morning the partners met early at the offices of the V-LINC research group on CIT Campus to discuss and develop the methodologies for the Capitalization strategy, the Export Consortia Incorporation process and the Business Plans Implementation and Project Sustainability.