Maritime Education
RMU–WMU Partnership Signals New Era for Maritime Education in West Africa
RMU–WMU Partnership Signals New Era for Maritime Education in West Africa
MoU Signed on Sidelines of IMO Technical Cooperation Committee Session in London
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Regional Maritime University (RMU), headquartered in Accra, Ghana, has formalised a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Maritime University (WMU), the International Maritime Organization’s premier postgraduate institution based in Malmö, Sweden — a development that signals a new chapter in Africa’s push to build world-class maritime human capital.
The agreement was concluded on the sidelines of the 76th Session of the IMO Technical Cooperation Committee in London, one of the IMO’s principal bodies charged with overseeing global maritime capacity development and institutional support to developing states. The setting was deliberate: the Technical Cooperation Committee is the forum through which the IMO coordinates the activities of its recognised partner institutions, including WMU and the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI), making it the natural stage for this kind of inter-institutional commitment.
Scope of the Agreement
Under the terms of the MoU, RMU and WMU will deepen cooperation across a broad spectrum of academic and institutional activities. These include joint research initiatives, faculty and student exchange programmes, academic capacity building, curriculum development, and expanded access to WMU’s world-class learning resources and postgraduate programmes.
The agreement also opens a structured pathway for RMU staff and faculty to participate in WMU academic programmes — an avenue that could meaningfully close the gap between African maritime education standards and the best the global industry currently offers.
WMU has trained over 6,600 alumni from 171 countries and territories, many of whom now serve as senior maritime officials in government ministries, heads of shipping companies and ports, directors of naval organisations, and national representatives at the IMO. For RMU students and faculty to formally plug into that global network carries considerable professional weight.
A Strategic Milestone for RMU
Speaking at the signing ceremony, RMU’s Acting Vice Chancellor, Dr. Jethro W. Brooks Jr., described the partnership as a significant milestone in the university’s strategic growth agenda, and reaffirmed RMU’s commitment to forging strong international alliances that advance teaching, innovation, and professional development.
RMU was established in 1983 as the Regional Maritime Academy before being elevated to university status in 2007. Located in Accra, it is affiliated with the University of Ghana and operates as a branch of the WMU, with a mandate to promote regional cooperation in the maritime industry through training and capacity development. This new MoU deepens what was previously an informal institutional relationship into a structured framework of mutual academic obligation — a step up in ambition that reflects growing confidence in RMU’s ability to operate at the highest international level.
The university draws students from across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) subregion, making it a pivotal institution not just for Ghana but for the broader West African maritime ecosystem — including Nigeria, which supplies a significant share of the subregion’s seafarers, port professionals, and maritime administrators.
A Pattern of WMU Engagement With Africa
The RMU–WMU agreement fits within a wider pattern of WMU’s accelerating engagement with African maritime institutions. In February 2026, WMU signed a similar MoU with the Dar es Salaam Maritime Institute (DMI) in Tanzania, covering joint Africa-Europe training initiatives, maritime education data systems, research on maritime safety, academic exchanges, and curriculum enhancement. Taken together, these moves suggest WMU is executing a deliberate continental strategy — using formal institutional partnerships to extend its reach and deepen the pipeline of qualified African maritime professionals entering the global industry.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigerian maritime stakeholders, the RMU–WMU partnership carries implications that go beyond the borders of Ghana.
Nigeria remains the largest source of maritime human capital in West Africa, yet the country’s maritime training institutions — including those providing STCW-compliant seafarer education — continue to face challenges in gaining the kind of international academic recognition that opens doors to global shipping careers and regulatory roles. A stronger, internationally accredited RMU, operating under a formal framework with WMU, raises the overall credibility of West African maritime certification — something that benefits Nigerian seafarers and shipping professionals seeking employment with international carriers or classification societies.
More significantly, Nigeria’s own maritime institutions — including the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, and the emerging capacity-building frameworks under NIMASA — should be watching this development closely. The pattern of WMU formalising MoUs with African maritime institutions, from Dar es Salaam to Accra, raises the question of whether Nigeria, as Africa’s largest maritime economy, will move to secure a similar arrangement. Nigeria’s ambition to position itself as the hub of the Gulf of Guinea’s blue economy cannot be fully realised without a credentialed, internationally networked maritime education sector to back it up.
The Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and NIMASA’s leadership would do well to initiate direct engagement with WMU, whose mandate is explicitly to enhance capacity-building in developing states and to contribute to safe, secure, environmentally sound, and sustainable shipping through institutional cooperation. The door, it appears, is open.
Waterways News | Maritime Education
AFRICA MOVES TO PLUG MARITIME SKILLS GAP WITH PROPOSED REGIONAL MARITIME UNIVERSITY
A feasibility study has laid out plans for a Regional Maritime University (RMU) to serve Eastern, Southern and Northern Africa, aimed at closing a widening shortage of certified maritime professionals across the region through stronger training, deeper research capacity and better access to compulsory sea-time.
The study, carried out by Professor Anish Hebbar, an Associate Professor at the World Maritime University (WMU), reviewed maritime education and training systems in member states of the Maritime Organization for Eastern, Southern and Northern Africa (MOESNA). It examined existing institutions, training capacity, infrastructure, regulatory compliance and industry demand to test whether a regional university is viable.
Presented to industry stakeholders for validation, the study envisions an institution capable of producing seafarers, marine engineers, port specialists and maritime policy professionals who can compete internationally, while boosting the region’s share of the global maritime labour market.
Despite the MOESNA region hosting roughly 731 universities and higher institutions overall, only 21 are recognised Maritime Education and Training (MET) centres. Kenya leads with 11, Tanzania has four, Ethiopia and Uganda have two apiece, while the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi have just one each. Botswana, Burundi and Zambia have none.
Even where MET institutions exist, the study found they are struggling to turn enrolment into certified, employable graduates. Limited access to mandatory sea-time, weak practical facilities and thin ties to shipping companies were identified as the main reasons students fail to complete certification. Of 26 maritime agencies and institutions surveyed, 84.6 percent said training infrastructure, particularly simulators, workshops and sea-time placements, needs significant upgrading to meet the practical training standards under the IMO’s STCW Convention.
The report argues that a shared regional university would let member states pool resources for costly assets such as simulators, training vessels and engineering labs that individual countries cannot afford alone, and recommends the RMU build long-term partnerships with shipping lines, port authorities and maritime administrations to lock in cadet placements and improve graduate employability.
The push comes against a global backdrop of officer shortages. BIMCO and the International Chamber of Shipping project a worldwide shortfall of 39,100 certified officers by 2026, even with a surplus of ratings. Researchers say Africa, where over 60 percent of the population is under 25, is well placed to help fill that gap, yet the continent supplies only about 4 percent of the world’s seafarers. Within MOESNA specifically, the region contributed just 4,947 seafarers in 2021, or 0.26 percent of global supply, with Tanzania accounting for nearly 90 percent of that figure while Kenya, despite having the most MET institutions, supplied only 185.
Higher-level maritime education is another weak point. Out of the 21 MET institutions, only five offer bachelor’s degrees, one offers a master’s, and none offers a doctoral programme, limiting research and the pipeline of future maritime educators. The proposed university would offer degree and postgraduate programmes alongside certification and specialised training in marine engineering, maritime law, port management, logistics, environmental protection, safety, digital technologies and the blue economy, with stakeholders pushing for added focus on AI, automation, green shipping, maritime cybersecurity and alternative fuels.
International recognition remains limited too. Only Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia sit on the IMO White List, and only Ethiopia is recognised by the European Maritime Safety Agency. The study argues a single regional university could harmonise standards and improve the mobility of African seafarers internationally.
Gender representation was flagged as another gap, with women making up about 23 percent of enrolment at selected African maritime institutions and roughly 1 percent of the global seafaring workforce. The study recommends scholarships, mentorship, affordable tuition and stronger welfare support to widen access for women and disadvantaged students.
Overall, the study concludes an RMU would strengthen training, research and regional harmonisation, but cautions its success will hinge on sustained political will, predictable funding, sound governance and durable industry partnerships to guarantee graduates the practical exposure they need for certification and jobs.
Nigeria Watch
Nigeria is not a MOESNA member, but the story lands close to home. The skills and sea-time crisis the study describes in Eastern, Southern and Northern Africa is, almost point for point, the same crisis Nigerian maritime training has wrestled with for years at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron. Crises such as inadequate simulators, thin industry linkages, and cadets who complete coursework but stall at the certification stage for want of guaranteed sea-time berths.
The MOESNA study’s core diagnosis, that no single country can afford the full suite of simulators, training vessels and labs needed to meet STCW practical standards, so nations must pool resources, is a direct echo of arguments Nigerian stakeholders have made about NIMASA’s Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) and the long-running push to secure guaranteed cadet berths with international shipping lines. It also reinforces a point Nigerian commentary has made repeatedly that certification without sea-time is a dead end, and no amount of classroom capacity fixes that on its own.
There is a regional-diplomacy angle too. As West Africa’s Maritime Organization for West and Central Africa (MOWCA) region watches ECOWAS states debate similar training and cabotage-financing gaps, the MOESNA initiative is a useful comparison for how a regional bloc can formalise shared training infrastructure rather than each country building parochial, underfunded institutions. Nigeria’s own Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) debate, where small operators struggle to raise capital for modern vessels, mirrors the MOESNA study’s finding that individual states cannot shoulder capital-intensive maritime infrastructure alone.
The gender and youth findings also resonate. With women accounting for a small share of enrolment and an even smaller share of the seafaring workforce globally, and with Nigeria’s own maritime training bodies facing similar underrepresentation, the MOESNA recommendations on scholarships and welfare support add to a growing continental case for deliberate inclusion policy in maritime education, one Nigerian regulators and training institutions would do well to track as they shape their own reform agendas.
Reading the Compass: Why Every Seafarer Must Master the Art of Nautical Bearinngs
Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News | Maritime Training & Safety Desk
For every cadet stepping onto the bridge for the first time, and for every seasoned officer who has spent decades navigating open water, one skill remains constant and non-negotiable: the ability to read a nautical bearing compass with speed, accuracy, and confidence. It is, in many ways, the language of the sea — a silent but precise system that tells a mariner exactly where danger, land, or another vessel lies in relation to their own ship.
Maritime trainers and navigation officers across Nigeria’s waterways continue to emphasise that bearings are not merely academic knowledge tested in cadet examinations. They are a working tool used every single day, in every watch, on every voyage, from the busy shipping lanes of Lagos and Bonny to the open expanse of the Gulf of Guinea.
What Exactly Is a Bearing?
In the simplest terms, a bearing is a direction, expressed in degrees, that shows the position of one object relative to another. At sea, this most often means the direction of another vessel, a navigational hazard, a buoy, or a landmark, relative to the observer’s own ship.
Bearings are measured using a full 360-degree scale, beginning at 000° and running clockwise back around to 360°. This system removes the ambiguity that comes with vaguer descriptions like “somewhere off to the side” or “up ahead” — replacing guesswork with a precise, universally understood figure that any officer, anywhere in the world, can immediately interpret.
The Ship as a Clock
One of the most effective ways navigation instructors teach bearings, particularly to new cadets, is by comparing the vessel to the face of a clock, with the ship’s bow representing 12 o’clock.
Using this method, the key reference points break down are as follows:
- 000° (12 o’clock) : Dead ahead, directly in line with the bow
- 090° (3 o’clock) : On the starboard beam, directly to the right of the vessel
- 180° (6 o’clock) : Dead astern, directly behind the ship
- 270° (9 o’clock) : On the port beam, directly to the left of the vessel
Every other bearing falls somewhere between these four cardinal reference points, allowing an officer to describe, with pinpoint accuracy, the exact direction from which another vessel is approaching or where a hazard has been sighted.
Beyond straight degree readings, seafarers also rely on nautical points of the compass, most commonly one, two, or three points, to describe how large or small a change in direction is. A one-point alteration signals a slight adjustment in course or bearing, while a two-point or three-point shift indicates a more moderate or significant change. This shorthand allows for quick, efficient communication on the bridge, particularly during time-sensitive manoeuvres.
Beam, Bow, Quarter and Stern: The Vessel’s Points of Reference
To fully grasp bearings, mariners must also understand the fixed reference points on their own vessel:
- Bow :- The forward-most point of the ship
- Beam :- The midpoint along either side of the vessel, at a right angle to its length
- Quarter :- The area between the beam and the stern, on either the port or starboard side
- Stern :- The rear-most point of the vessel
Together with the 360-degree bearing scale, these reference points form a complete navigational vocabulary, enabling officers to describe the position of any object around their ship with total clarity, whether it is fine on the port bow, broad on the starboard quarter, or dead astern.
Why Bearings Matter: Safety, Communication and Collision Avoidance
Maritime safety experts stress that a firm grasp of bearings is not simply a box to tick during officer certification. It is central to three pillars of safe seafaring:
1. Communication. A precise bearing eliminates confusion on the bridge. When an officer reports a vessel “fine on the starboard bow at 020°,” every crew member instantly understands the exact situation — no interpretation required.
2. Collision Avoidance. Bearings are the backbone of the COLREGs-based risk assessment mariners perform constantly at sea. By repeatedly checking the compass bearing of an approaching vessel, officers can determine whether that vessel is on a steady bearing, a classic warning sign of risk of collision, and take timely, appropriate action.
3. Safe Navigation. From plotting a ship’s position using cross-bearings of known landmarks, to reporting hazards to other vessels or shore authorities, bearings remain one of the most fundamental tools in a navigator’s arsenal, even in an era of advanced electronic charting and satellite positioning.
A Foundational Skill for Every Rank
Whether addressing a first-year cadet fresh out of maritime academy or a master mariner with decades of sea time, training officers are unanimous: mastering bearings is a rite of passage that never loses its relevance. Modern bridge technology, radar, ECDIS, AIS, has made navigation more sophisticated, but none of it replaces the fundamental human skill of looking outward, taking a bearing, and understanding precisely what it means.
As Nigeria’s maritime sector continues to grow, with increasing vessel traffic along its coastal and inland waterways, industry stakeholders say a renewed emphasis on foundational navigation skills, bearings chief among them, will remain critical to reducing incidents at sea and building a new generation of confident, capable Nigerian seafarers.
Waterways News will continue its ongoing series on maritime training fundamentals, bringing practical navigation and safety knowledge to seafarers across Nigeria’s waterways.
Waterways News is Nigeria’s foremost digital publication covering ports, shipping, inland waterways, and the blue economy.© Waterways News | www.waterwaysnews.ng | All rights reserved
Basic Maritime Skills and Safety: Essential Nautical Knots Every Mariner Should Master
Captain Larry O. | Waterways News | Maritime Education | Skills & Safety
Long before radar, GPS, and satellite communication came aboard, the fate of a vessel and everyone on it often rested on something far simpler: a length of rope, tied correctly. That has not changed. From the ocean-going tankers threading the Bonny and Escravos channels to the wooden passenger boats that carry commuters and traders across the creeks of the Niger Delta, knot-tying remains one of the most basic, and most essential, skills a seafarer can carry.
For Nigeria’s growing community of mariners, cadets, boat operators, and inland waterway transport workers, knot proficiency is not a ceremonial skill reserved for maritime academies. It is a practical, day-to-day necessity. A well-tied knot secures cargo on a barge navigating the Lagos–Baro corridor, holds a mooring line fast against tidal surge at a jetty, rigs a sail on a fishing canoe, or, in the worst of circumstances, becomes the difference between a rescue and a tragedy. As Nigeria pushes to expand its blue economy and strengthen safety standards across its more than 10,000 kilometres of navigable waterways, the humble knot deserves fresh attention.
Waterways News presents a curated guide to 15 essential knots that every deckhand, able seaman, bosun, officer, and sailing enthusiast should know, organised by function, and grounded in the standards promoted by the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and global maritime training frameworks.
Why Knot Skills Still Matter in a Modern Maritime World
It would be easy to assume that in an age of hydraulic winches, synthetic rigging systems, and automated mooring equipment, traditional knot-tying has become a relic. The opposite is true. Modern vessels, tugboats, dredgers, and passenger ferries still rely heavily on manual line handling, particularly during mooring, towing, cargo lashing, emergency drills, and man-overboard recovery operations. Equipment can fail or be unavailable in an emergency; a mariner’s hands and a length of rope rarely are.
Maritime safety regulators have also kept knot competency firmly within training curricula. SOLAS-aligned training standards, as well as the International Maritime Organization’s Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) framework, continue to require demonstrable rope-work skills for deck ratings and officers alike. In Nigeria, where the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) have intensified safety campaigns following a string of boat mishaps on inland waters, basic seamanship skills, knot-tying chief among them, are being re-emphasized as a frontline defence against accidents.
Below is the full breakdown.
1. Basic and Stopper Knots
These are the building blocks of seamanship, the first knots any cadet learns, and the foundation for more advanced rigging work.
Overhand Knot: The simplest knot of all, formed with a single loop and pull-through. It is rarely used alone for critical loads but forms the basis of many other knots and is useful for quick, temporary stops on a line.
Figure-Eight Knot: Widely regarded as one of the best stopper knots available. Tied at the end of a rope, it prevents the line from slipping through a block, pulley, or fairlead. Unlike the overhand knot, it does not jam under load, making it far easier to untie after use, a critical advantage when working under time pressure or wet conditions.
Granny Knot: Often confused with the reef knot because of its similar appearance, the granny knot is structurally unstable and prone to slipping or jamming unpredictably. Maritime trainers consistently flag it as a knot to avoid for any load-bearing or safety-critical application. Its inclusion here is a caution, not a recommendation: know it so you can recognize. and avoid it.
2. Joining and Binding Knots
This category covers knots used to connect two ropes, bind objects together, or attach a line to a fixed point.
Square Knot (Reef Knot): A traditional knot for joining two ropes of similar diameter, historically used to reef or furl sails. It should never be relied upon for critical loads or dissimilar rope thicknesses, as it can slip or capsize under strain, but remains useful for general lashing and securing tasks.
Sheet Bend and Double Sheet Bend: The go-to knot for joining two ropes of different thickness or material, a common scenario aboard vessels where synthetic and natural fibre lines may need to be connected. The double sheet bend adds an extra wrap for improved security, particularly useful when the ropes involved are slippery or under heavier load.
Fisherman’s Knot: A reliable joining knot traditionally used by anglers and boat crews to connect fishing lines or lightweight ropes. It consists of two overhand knots tied around each other, which then draw tight against one another under tension.
Common Whipping: Not strictly a knot but a binding technique, whipping is used to bind the end of a rope and prevent it from fraying or unraveling, an essential piece of rope maintenance aboard any working vessel.
Cow Hitch: A quick and simple hitch for attaching a rope to a post, ring, or rail. It is fast to tie and untie, making it useful for temporary securing tasks, though it is not recommended for heavy or safety-critical loads due to its tendency to slip under certain angles of pull.
Clove Hitch: A staple aboard any vessel, the clove hitch is used to quickly secure a rope to a post, piling, or rail, commonly seen in fendering and temporary mooring work. It ties and releases quickly but can slip if not backed up with a half hitch, particularly under a fluctuating load such as that caused by wave action against a jetty.
Heaving Line Knot: Used to add weight to the end of a heaving line, allowing it to be thrown further and more accurately, an indispensable skill during mooring operations, when a line must be passed from ship to shore or between vessels, sometimes across a significant gap of open water.
3. Special Purpose Knots
These knots serve more specific and often, more critical functions, from creating secure loops to shortening damaged sections of rope.
Bowline: Frequently called the “King of Knots,” the bowline creates a fixed loop at the end of a rope that will not slip or tighten under load, yet can still be untied easily even after being subjected to heavy strain. It is used everywhere from securing a line around a bollard to forming a loop for rescue operations, and remains one of the first knots taught to any new seafarer for good reason.
Running Bowline: A variation of the standard bowline that creates a loop capable of tightening around an object, functioning similarly to a lasso. It is useful for retrieving objects from the water or securing loads that require a self-tightening loop.
Bowline on a Bight: Formed in the middle of a rope rather than at its end, this knot creates two secure loops and is particularly valuable in rescue situations, where it can be used as an improvised sling or harness to lift or lower a person safely.
Sheep-shank: A knot used to temporarily shorten a length of rope without cutting it, or to bypass a damaged or weakened section. While less commonly used in routine operations today, it remains a valuable skill for emergency situations where rope is limited and a section is compromised.
Building the Habit: Practice as a Safety Culture
Knowing a knot’s name and shape is only the first step. Maritime trainers and safety officers consistently stress that speed, muscle memory, and the ability to tie knots correctly under pressure, in darkness, in rain, on a pitching deck, or with cold or gloved hands, are what actually separate a competent mariner from a merely informed one. This is why SOLAS-aligned training standards recommend that knot-tying be built into regular safety drills rather than treated as a one-time academy exercise.
For operators along Nigeria’s inland waterways, where NIWA has reported that wooden boats make up the overwhelming majority of vessels in service, and where safety agencies have pushed initiatives ranging from life jacket distribution to stricter enforcement of navigation standards, reinforcing basic seamanship skills like knot-tying fits into a broader push to reduce boat mishaps and improve safety outcomes for both crew and passengers.
Whether you are a cadet preparing for certification, an able seaman refreshing core skills, a bosun training junior crew, or simply a sailing enthusiast, the 15 knots outlined above form a solid, practical foundation. They are inexpensive to learn, require no special equipment beyond a length of rope, and remain as relevant today as they were in the earliest days of seafaring.
Strong knot skills are, in the truest sense, timeless.
A Premium Nautical Knots Reference Poster accompanies this feature. Mariners and training institutions interested in a printable copy for onboard or classroom use can reach out to the Waterways News editorial desk.
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