21 March 2013: visit Hydrographic Bureau in The Hague
On behalf of the Hydrographer of the navy (Captain Peter Kortenoeven), Lieutenant Commander Theo Hamburger of the Royal Netherlands Navy Hydrographic service welcomed the “Cat B 12th class” at the Hydrographic Bureau in Den Haag in the Netherlands.
After a short introduction movie, covering the Hydrographic service, we were presented with various presentations covering Hydrographic re-survey schedules, Military Surveys in Senegal and Somalia , Survey Data Production in relation to Electronic Nautical Charts and the subject Maritime Boundaries & Limits. The last subject was well discussed as this is one of the next exams.
We thank Lieutenant Willem van der Plas for the whole coordination of this interesting afternoon.
January 2013 Start of "12th Hydrographic Survey Category "B
The 12th class has started at STC in Rotterdam with again some new relations.We welcome Peter Durkin of Port of London and Danny Swain from USA as new comers. Eduardo Santos of Q Sea BV will attend the course for the 4 weeks "Basics"as he wanted to improve his background as processor. We are pleased to welcome also Tjerk Bouma from van Oord, Christian Larsson & Robert Rosendahl and Markus Friding from the Swedish Maritime Authority and Jarkko Moberg of Meritaito from Finland. It is an interesting group with all a different background.
A special word of thanks is for Mr. Aad van Dam who is lecturing for the last time this class in Mathematics and Tides and welcome also Mr Fred Kuiperij of STC who is taking over his task for Mathematics.
For the next 13th Hydrographic Survey Category "B" registration is open starting 9th of September.
September 2012 - Practical & World Port Days
Today our first pratical day outside taking measurements with sextants and levelling coincided with the World Port Days. With the exerices the students had to tackle the problem of positioning themselves using sextants and various known points together with setting up a tidal location and levlling from a known benchmark. All in all an exercise challenging their reading and working together on this truly beautiful day with lots of sunshine.
The World Port Days, a 3-day annual event organised by the Port of Rotterdam. A large variety of port companies gave a glimpse behind the scenes of their daily operations. In the city centre along the river Maas and quaysides you could find a wide range of companies, vessels, activities and industrial material. Apart from this the World Port Days offered the opportunity to visit different companies by boat, bus or train. The excursions are truly one of a kind; usually you’ll never be given the chance to visit the Port’s industrial areas like this.
Some students and lecturers took time to joing the days and visited the vessel and enjoyed the events, music and food.
11th Class International - Hydrographic Survey Category "B" Course
We have started our 11th Class International and we welcome our students to the city of Rotterdam and especially our STC lecture building at the Lloydstraat. For some it was harder to get here than others, but you are all here. Talking about travelling and the challenges faced by some, they have travelled far with origins ranging from Mozambique to Latvia and Nigeria to Australia.
The first three weeks with subjects like Mathematics, Physics and Nautical Science were hard, as it is always difficult to get back to school, not having to work 12hrs a day on some kind of project somewhere in the world. Taking all your time to study and getting to know each other. The first exam was last week and now studying hard for the next two exams
Here you all are, just arrived with the water taxi next to the Hotel New York at the Wilhelminakade. Hotel New York used to be the main office of the Holland America Line (HAL). The place where passengers embarked on their journey to the United States
Many thanks to the Port of Rotterdam, especially Jereon van Reenen, for hosting our first workshop, Jeroen provided us with some valuable information and knowledge about Hydrography and Ports, density measurements, MBES surveys and of course planning, coverage and overlap. We all enjoyed it very much, especially the sailing with the Port's vessel "Surveyor 1"
28 & 29 August - Aberdeen - 2day Introduction Hydrographyy course
10 days to go before we start with our next Introduction Hydrography Course in Aberdeen. The Olympics are over, the summer holidays are almost over and it is back to work. An interesting Course to allow you to better undertsand the work offshore, understand the basics involved with Hydrography and appreciate the work of a Hydrographic Surveyor (online and offline).
We still have some places left, send your interest to info@skilltrade.nl
After the course the picture below will suddenly make much more sense
10th & 11th Class International
3 days to go before we start with our 11th Hydrographic Survey Category "B" course. 
(On the right, one of our students visiting the International Court of Justice in The Hague). We have had people from many different countries on our course but this is once more going to be a special one. 12 people from 10 different countries a diverse cultural mix of nationalities, backgrounds and experiences. We wish them all the best, good travels and welcome them on Monday
Below our students from the 10th Class, who completed all their exams in April, went back to work and have started filling out their logbooks. We wish them all the best and we trust they will keep up the good work and spirit.
Introduction Hydrography Courses (2-days)
Over the past months we have organised many Introduction Hydrography Courses. A lot of interest from companies and people in Holland and Great Britain allowed us to organise these 2-day courses in Rotterdam & Aberdeen and even some company specific ones.
We were pleasantly surprised with the interest and especially the vivid participation form all. People with a background in Environmental, Acoustics, Dredging, Electronics, Fishing, Sailing, Landsurvey, Mechanical Engineering, the Forces, Geography, Mapping, software development, Sales, Marketing, Physics, Archaeology and Civil Engineering participate din teh course. It shows that the course applies to a wide variety of interest and allows all to gain the baisc knowledge and information of all that is involved with Hydrographic Survey. Making them aware of the work of a Hydrographic surveyor and appreciate it.
Companies that registered for the course include: Fugro, Niebeek Engineering, Visser Smit Hanab, NIOZ, RESON, RaS, Seatronics, Intermoor, Sonsub, NCS, Oceanfix, Subsea7, SAIPEM, Ashtead, DAMEN, GeoCon, Structon and MacArtney.
Handbooks of Offshore Surveying in 3 Volumes
If you are interested in reference and background material regarding Hydrographic Survey, basic knowledge on Geodesy, Tides, Underwater Acoustics and Positioning or just want to find out more about the industry, equipment used and how it all works together.
These are the books you should buy. Over 3000 copies sold to companies, individuals from all around the world around the world. Used in approximately 20 different educational instutes lecturing in Hydrography, Civil Engineering, Dredging, Geophysics, Landsurvey
Hydrographic Surveyors, Geophysicists, Survey Engineers, ROV pilots, Geodesists, Captains, Project Managers, Geologists and Land Surveyors have written this Three Volume Handbook. All examples detailed in the Handbook are derived from situations encountered in their years offshore and onshore around the world. WE also like to thank the various companies for their input.
The 3 Volumes comprise of:
Volume I Projects, Preparation & Processing
Volume II Positioning & Tides
Volume III Acquisition Sensors
For more information of the contents and sales, please visit our bookstore: www.skilltradebookstore.nl
