The Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN) has awarded a €200 000 contract to DNV SeaSkill for the examination and certification of 4000 of its ratings and officers.

To be carried out over a three-year period, the personnel certification contract concerns four levels of seafarer competency, which will be examined and certified according to the new DNV Safety in Marine Electrical Installations standard.

The first personnel certificates have already been issued at the Den Helder headquarters of the RNN . Captain at Sea P J van Meel, director education, emphasised the motivation for using personnel certification as “conformity with Dutch labour law requirements, continuously improving safety awareness, use of internationally accepted standards and acceptance of DNV certificates by the industry”.

Echoing his comments, DNV’s Henk Akse, says: “The reasons why the contract was awarded to DNV are our outstanding reputation in the field of personnel certification, our global set up, our maritime background and our ability to develop transparent and internationally accepted standards.”

The examination and certification operation will be carried out in close cooperation with DNV’s business unit for personnel certification in The Netherlands. DNV SeaSkill, a unit of DNV’s Maritime Solutions division, has been set up to evaluate and certify the competence of seafarers.