Namibia

Major contract from UNITAR (United Nations) to RKK's office in Namibia Walvis Bay

RKK has been awarded a major contract from UNITAR (United Nations) in Nigeria for the training of Nigerian workers in a range of disciplines in the oil & gas sector. The comprehensive agreement applies to "Instrumentation electro", "Instrumentation piping", "Safety and Security Officer, "Quality Maintenance & Inspection Officer", a number of certifications in welding (including TIG 141) and also several courses in the oil & gas, and "level 2 Drilling - Roughneck."

The training starts in March 2011 and will last until September 2011. At its peak, approximately 70 people will receive training simultaneously.

All training is carried out by RKK Namibia in Walvis Bay.

RKK Namibia starts English course for INP Angola

On the 4th of October 2010, RKK Namibia started a new course for a group of Angolan INP Instructors.

The duration of the Course will be 6 months. The course has been specially developed by RKK Namibia.The course co-ordinator is Kerry Wood with her Assistant Victoria Louw.

First group of Instrumentation students for RKK Namibia

The first group of Instrumentation students from Nigeria has successfully concluded there studies at the Namibian Institute of Mining Technology (NIMT) which is a cooperation partner of RKK.

RKK NAMIBIA DEVELOPS FIRE FIGHTING SIMULATORS FOR INP ANGOLA WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF STATOIL

In January 2010 RKK was awarded the contract to develop, train and manage a project for safety by STATOIL at INP(Instituto nacional de petroleos). The first phase of the project started with the training of trainers. The second phase started with design, modification and transport of the freight containers into fire fighting simulators.

Below is the containers that are being transported from Walvis bay, Namibia to Sumbe, Angola.

On arrival RKK Project Manager Mr Shalumbu together with a technical team of RKK Namibia was there to assemble the containers into fire fighting simulators. See pictures below:

The project of the simulators were designed and managed through the Namibian Office with the Director of the Office as project manager and Mr Øystein Førsvoll as project responsible. The fire fighting simulator consist of a briefing room, a dress room for donning fire fighting equipment, confined space area and an area to fight live fires.

RKK Kazakhstan visits RKK Namibia

In mid-September Svetlana Borodulina and Olga Ponomaryova from RKK Kazakhstan visited our branch office in Walvis Bay Namibia. The Kazakhstan office is in the start-up phase and the purpose of the visit was to learn from the Namibia office's experience of start-up and operation. Special weight was given to financial reporting and the project management systems. Further topics of discussion were communication between Norway and the branch office and cultural differences. The visit proved very useful and will mean even better cooperation and communication between the different offices of RKK International. During the visit to Walvis Bay there was also time to visit our partner organisation NAMFI.

Photo, from the left: Marlene Sebastiao, Svetlana Borodulina, Carl Williams, Olga Ponomaryova and Rosina Moshoeshoe

Photo: Visiting NAMFI

Unitar Instrumentation Course

The second group of students from UNITAR, Nigeria, have arrived in Namibia for the instrumentation course on 27.06.2010. The course started on 28.06.2010 at the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology and has duration of 8 weeks. The course specifications is the same as the one conducted for the first group at Stord in Norway.

Below is a picture of the students in front of the RKK Namibia Office in Walvis Bay:

The students are: Elemelu Ambroze Uzoma, Igwe ChimezieJacob, Ordu Joseph, Paul Lazarus, Agi Chidi Amadi, Ikoro Ezekwem, Elemele ThankGod, Ite Bille, Kio Princewill, Eke Abraham, Didi Uzoma and Levi Bestman

Graduation ceremony in Namibia - Safety Instructor Course

The group of Angolan instructors which graduated from the 6 week long Safety Instructor Course attended the graduation ceremony on the 3rd of June 2010.

The students graduated in the areas of General Safety, Fire Fighting and First Aid. The courses were done in accordance with IMO, STCW table VI.

During the last week RKK Namibia had a group of three auditors from Norway (Statoil, SOTS) auditing the content and quality of the course.

From left to right: Antonio Silva, Alexandre Jose, Rene Correia, Carl Williams(RKK Namibia), Maria Lourdes, Fernando Canhanda, Mpanzu Bejamin
Kneeling position: Jorge Alves (RKK Safety Instructor), Marcio Abreu (Safety Instructor).

Namibia's new Minister of Fisheries visited RKK Namibia in May 2010

Our Walvis Bay office had in the beginning of May, a visit from Namibia's newly-appointed Honorary Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resourses, Bernard M.Esau. Our administration colleague Helena-Ella Ngifindaka gave the visitors a briefing on our activities in the RKK Namibia Office.

Photo, from the left: Cornelius Bundje (Deputy Director Namfi), PA to the Minister, Hon.Minister Bernard M.Esau, Polli Andima (Director Namfi), Helena-Ella Ngifindaka (RKK Namibia), Clive Kambongarera (Namfi)

RKK Namibia starts instructor training for safety courses

On the 11th of April 2010 RKK Namibia received a group of six Angolan Instructors to be trained as Safety Instructors for the New Safety Center to be established at INP. This project is fully sponsored by Statoil Angola. The Instructors will be trained in three areas namely:

• Fire Fighting
• First Aid
• General Safety

The group of Angolan Trainee Safety Instructors, with Mr Rodrigo Alves (RKK Safety Instructor) left, and Mr. Jorge Alves (RKK Safety Course coordinator) right.

Below and above are students busy with practical exercises in First Aid. The “train the trainer” will cover a period of two months.

Graduation ceremony at the RKK Namibia office 10 March 2010

On Wednesday 10. March 2010 a graduation ceremony was held for 10 students from Nigeria who have completed a 4-month welding course under the auspices of RKK Namibia and Namfi in Walvis Bay, Namibia.

Read more about the ceremony here.

Strategy meeting in Windhoek about tertiary vocational education at INP, Angola

In the end of February 2010, RKK's Namibia office set up a working seminar at Windhoek at which the main topic concerned the establilshment of tertiary vocational education ("Teknisk Fagskole") at INP in Sumbe, Angola. The seminar was led by Carl Williams and Carl Andriamparany from RKK. Namibia had participants from the management of INP Sumbe and and the Ministry of Education in Luanda and there were representatives also from RKK Norway.

Hydraulics & Electonics Program - and Course in Welding

Our Namibia office is presently holding courses in hydraulics and electronics - please se more information here. In addition a course in welding is also being held. See more information here.

Official opening of the RKK's Namibian office in Walvis Bay

Photo: The Chairman of the Board in RKK, Ms. Kristine Gramstad & Director Namibia Mr. Carl Williams

RKK's office in Walvis Bay in Namibia was officially open on October 2. Participating in the opening ceremony were the RKK board and the employees from the NAMFI whom we are going to cooperate with. The Chairman of the Board, Ms. Kristine Gramstad, performed the official opening while Ole Imsland, Øystein Førsvoll and Carl Williams told about activities in Africa and particularly in Namibia. In connection with the opening of the RKK's Namibian office the RKK Board had a number of meetings with the Namibian authorities on various levels.

Meeting with the Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources

In Windhoek the RKK Board had a meeting with the Minister of Fishery together with the board and management of the NAMFI with whom we are going to cooperate.

Meeting with the Namibian Maritime and Fisheries Institute (NAMFI)

During the visit in October 2009 RKK had a meeting and negotiations with the management of NAMFI. In addition there was made a tour of NAMFI.

Meeting with the Mayor in Walvis Bay

Among the issues discussed at a meeting with the Mayor of Walvis Bay, Ms Uilika Nambahu, was the agreement signed with NAMFI.

Ole Imsland from RKK and Mayor of Walvis Bay, Ms. Uilika Nambahu

See the report on the Walvis Bay Internet newspaper

Meeting with the Governor

In Swakopmund we had a meeting with the Regional Governor, Hon. SS Nuuyoma, Eronga Regional Council.

Foto: Ole Imsland from RKK og Regional Governor, Hon. SS Nuuyoma

NAMFI and RKK sign cooperation agreement

At a meeting in Walvis Bay, Namibia, on 23 April 2009, NAMFI (Namibian Maritime and Fisheries Institute) and RKK formally entered into a cooperation agreement on adult education. The agreement was signed by Director Polli Andimia from NAMFI and Managing Director Ole Imsland from RKK.NAMFI and RKK will collaborate on developing and running the following courses in Walvis Bay:

• Offshore courses
• Marine Engineering Courses
• Navigation Courses
• Health and Safety Courses
• Human Resource Courses
• Infrastructure development
• Fisheries Related Training (harvesting and fish handeling,aquaculture, etc)
• Rig Maintenance
• Hiv and Aids

In 2009 the following courses will have priority:

• Crane/slinging
• Safety training
• Hydraulics
• Welding
• Cable Tray
• Pressure testing
• Tailor –made courses on request of customers

NAMFI was formally established in 1996 by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFRM) as a foundation. The training centre was developed in close cooperation with the Norwegian development agency NORAD.

RKK has established a business office in Namibia, Walvis Bay. The office will handle project and commercial activities especially in Namibia and Angola, but also other parts of Africa. Project manager Carl Williams is head of office.

The visit drew attention from local newspapers - please read the articles here.

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RKK works with the Namibian Maritime & Fisheries Institute (NAMFI) www.namfi.net. NAMFI is a maritime educational institution of high standard, recognized by IMO (International Maritime Organization www.imo.org). Our cooperation with NAMFI is based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Through this agreement, the two parties aim to establish longterm collaboration in which they will work jointly towards organizational development, strengthening of market positions and continuous quality improvement. The agreement came about as a result of RKK’s visit to Namibia in 2007 and the return visit by NAMFI to Stavanger in 2008. The parties will develop common programmes for vocational education and continuing education.

Courses

RKK will offer a variety of courses within the market areas Industry, Oil, Gas and Maritime. RKK wish to start courses in Namibia in the first half year of 2009 in hydraulics, safety and crane/slinging. Second half year of 2009 RKK will expand the course program to include areas such as welding and pressure testing.

Facilities

NAMFI has good facilities such as classrooms, workshops and equipment within vocational training. RKK has an agreement with NAMFI to use these facilities for courses. RKK will deliver courses according to international and Norwegian standards. RKK through Stavanger Maritime Sikkerhetssenter / Stavanger Offshore Technical College are certifies as:

1. safety centre (certified by DnV and approved by OLF and Norwegian maritime authorities)
2. training organization crane slinging (certified by Norsk Sertifisering)
3. training organization hydraulic (in process of being certified by Norwegian branch org.)
4. training organization oil and gas (approved by OLF)

Customer meeting in April 2009

A customer meeting will be held on 23. – 24. April 2009 in Walvis Bay. The purpose of the meeting is to present RKK as an organization, training facilities, course content and Walvis Bay as industrial area.

Information about Namibia

• Namibia on Wikipedia
• Namibia Tourism Board
• CIA – World Factbook - Namibia
• Namibia - Lonely Planet