Dubai Maritime City, the world’s first purpose-built maritime centre and a member of the Dubai World Group of companies, has established the Emirates International Maritime Academy,
And in another development, it signed an MoU with Confitarma, the Italian Shipowners’ Association. 
The move to set up the academy has been hailed as an important initiative to help the growing regional maritime sector augment its pool of experienced and skilled professionals.
The academy will be based within the Dubai Maritime City Campus (DMCC), serving as the gateway for citizens and residents in the region who wish to enter the maritime field. It will provide various marine-oriented academic programmes conducted according to International Maritime Organisation (IMO) standards in both theoretical and practical training in addition to short-term marine courses which will cover various maritime topics.
“One of the crucial elements supporting the long-term sustainability of the maritime sector is a world-class pool of marine professionals. Establishing a dedicated marine academy will be a significant step towards ensuring the steady supply of highly qualified maritime professionals in the region,” said Captain Jaafar Sidin, director of Dubai Maritime City Campus.
The academy will start operations in its temporary location at Dubai Maritime City while awaiting the completion of the DMCC. One of the initial courses to be offered is steering of yachts and boats of different sizes. These are greatly in demand across the region, particularly in Dubai. The academy is also finalising other specialised courses in safety, rescue and the maritime environment, short technical courses and courses in law and maritime legislation.
Capt Sidin said the educational complex was keen to attract the most prominent maritime universities and institutes in the world. Discussions with some of these institutes had entered the final stages. This was in line with the maritime city’s objectives of cultivating diversity, quality and innovation in the courses being offered to match the needs of the region’s expanding and evolving maritime sector.
Captain Abdulla Al Hayyas, operations Manager of DMCC, said the academy would work in close coordination with the various maritime sectors in the UAE and the region to meet their human resource requirements. It would seek to attract high school graduates in the UAE and abroad to join its engineering and maritime navigation programmes.
Dubai Maritime City Authority’s MoU with Confitarma, which occurred during the “48 ore del mare” conference in Genoa, Italy, calls for synergic cooperation between the two parties to promote the growth of the maritime industry in Dubai and Italy.
“Under the MOU, the two parties will jointly facilitate the exchange of ideas, know-how and policies that promote mutual growth and help in consolidating the global maritime industry. They will likewise explore new forms of cooperation in areas that include advanced services for the shipping industry, while collaborating in the development of new investments for the two parties,” a statement said.
John Ewing, chief commercial officer of Dubai Maritime City Authority, said: “This partnership delivers a strategic gain for Dubai as our Italian counterparts have a very dynamic shipping industry, which serves as a critical link to European markets.”
He said the Italians were greatly impressed with the highly innovative concept of Dubai Maritime City.
The MOU was signed by Ewing and Nicola Coccia president of Confitarma.
Confitarma represents more than 9/10ths of the Italian merchant fleet.