Training Record Book

• Practical training and seagoing service
• Training Record Book Ship's Mechanic
• Training Record Book NOA
• Training Record Book TOA
• Training Record Book ETOA

Practical training and seagoing service

Seafarers who wish to obtain a navigational, engineering or electro-technical certificate of competency for service as a ship's officer in Germany must complete practical training and seagoing service in addition to the general requirements. You can fulfill these in the following ways and with the required seagoing service:

• for the acquisition of a navigational certificate of competency with training as a ship's mechanic or as a navigational officer's assistant (NOA),
• for obtaining an engineering certificate of competency with training as a ship's mechanic or as a technical officer's assistant (TOA), or
• for the acquisition of a certificate of competency as an electro-technical officer as an electro-technical officer's assistant (ETOA).

In addition, there is also the option of completing the NOA, TOA or ETOA seagoing service with an internship according to educational provisions or with practical semesters.

In this case, the structured practical training and seagoing service has to be documented in a training record book. It consists of the company training plan, the activity record (here the activity must be described daily) and the ship data sheet (which has to be filled in on each ship) . There is a separate training record book for ship's mechanics, NOAs, TOAs and ETOAs.

The training record book is published by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH); you can purchase it from bookstores.

Training Record Book Ship's Mechanic

Ship mechanics use the Training Record Book for Ship Mechanics, in which the master, the chief engineer officer or a competent ship's officer confirms that the relevant requirements of the STCW Convention have been met with the on-board training.

This training record book is included in the "Ausbildungsordner für die Ausbildung zum Schiffsmechaniker“ (training folder for the training of ship's mechanics) published by the Berufsbildungsstelle Seeschifffahrt e.V. (BBS) (in German only).

Training Record Book NOA

NOAs use the On Board Training Record Book for Navigational Officer's Assistant, as a training record book, where the responsible instructor (master/navigational/engineer officer) confirms that the relevant requirements of the STCW Convention (in German only) have been met with the on-board training.

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Training Record Book TOA

TOAs use the On Board Training Record Book for Technical Officer’s Assistant, as their training record book, in which the instructor in charge (master/ship's officer) confirms that the relevant requirements of the STCW Convention have been met with the on-board training.

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Training Record Book ETOA

ETOAs use the On Board Training Record Book for Electro-Technical Officer's Assistant, as a training record book, in which the responsible instructor (master/nautical/technical/electro-technical ship's officer) confirms that the relevant requirements of the STCW Convention have been met with the on-board training.

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Legal basis

The practical training and seagoing service as NOA, TOA or ETOA is regulated by the (in German only):

• "Richtlinien für die Ausbildung von nautischen Offiziersassistenten in der Seeschifffahrt" (Guidelines for the training of navigational officer assistants in maritime navigation)
• "Richtlinien für die Ausbildung von technischen Offiziersassistenten in der Seeschifffahrt" (Guidelines for the training of technical officer assistants in maritime navigation)
• "Richtlinien für die Ausbildung von elektrotechnischen Offiziersassistenten in der Seeschifffahrt" (Guidelines for the training of electro-technical officer assistants in maritime navigation)

Compliance with the guidelines is monitored:

• by the Berufsbildungsstelle Seeschifffahrt e.V. (BBS, in German only), if it has issued a training certificate,
• by the technical colleges and universities of applied sciences, if corresponding training courses are offered at the respective schools (e.g. courses with practical semesters).

Do you still have questions? Here you will find further contact information.

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