New Zealand’s only marine engine room on land

9 April 2013


New Zealand’s only marine engine room on land

There is a dredger engine room kilometres away from sea, which is toiled away at by budding marine engineers.

There are three 1960s engines within, and hours are spent on maintenance and regular overhauls.

Located at Manukau Institute of Technology, it is the only place in the country where marine engineering students can gain practical experience of marine diesel engines on land.

MIT’s New Zealand Maritime School acquired the engines thanks to a generous donation by Heron Construction at the end of 2012.

They have been set up permanently in a simulated ship’s engine room, and marine engineering students do various short stints during their three year course putting to practice the knowledge they have acquired in the classroom.

New Zealand Maritime School Programme leader Paul Harper says before the engine room was established there was total reliance on classroom theory, interspersed with two three to four month stints at sea.

However, due to recent changes to international certification requirements, practical competency is now required to be part of the curriculum.

“You can really only test competency if you can see it in action. We have the students completely overhaul the engines, strip them right back and rebuild them,” Mr Harper says.

Although the engines are from the 1960s, the technology is still very relevant as practical training tools and the moment of truth for the students comes when they have to start the engines back on after rebuilding them.

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