The Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) has announced that its latest recruits have successfully qualified as Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) Operators following an extensive period of training in the UK.

Yannick Baglietto, Sean Robba and Kyle Sivers have just returned from the South Tyneside College near Newcastle following an intense 7 week course which provided their VHF radio, radar and VTS training before their successful final assessment at the college last week. The three new recruits are now fully qualified to keep watch in the VTS operations room and join their other colleagues maintaining the 24-hour coverage of BGTW, ensuring the navigational safety of vessel movements in and around the Port of Gibraltar. CEO and Captain of the Port, Commodore Bob Sanguinetti said that he was ‘delighted to welcome the new VTS operators, after undergoing intensive professional training at one of the leading maritime colleges in the UK’.

The recruiting and training of the VTS operators follows the recent promotion of Paul Howard and Stefan Rothwell to Port Officers. The Minister for Tourism, Employment, Commercial Aviation and the Port, the Hon Gilbert Licudi QC, stated that he “wished to congratulate officers Paul Howard and Stefan Rothwell on their well earned promotion, and would like to formally welcome the three new VTS operators to the GPA. Ahead of the Port Office’s forthcoming move to their new premises at Windmill Hill, this, once again, reinforces the Government’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of safety in our very busy waters.”