Training Manpower for Galley Positions
article from the
Cruise Industry News Quarterly: Fall 2009
page 77

For many years, the cruise industry has been tapping the Filipino and Indonesian markets for manpower at sea including in the galley. However, since these markets are startin to get overused and since India's state of Goa has huge resources of trainable manpower, Geffrey DeSouza created the International Cruise Culinary Academy (ICCA) in April 2008.

The company has its roots in the Imperial Ocean Management Inc. which DeSouza founded in 2000. That company specialized in crew manning in the areas of hotel and food.

"With so many new ships coming into the market, I found them lacking in qualified, trained Indian cooks," remarked DeSouza. Thus, DeSouza formed ICCA to till that gap. "Indians take their kitchen training very Seriously," he said. "The reason I started the company is to fulfill a need at the cruise lines but also to give people here in India especially Goa and Madras much needed careers," DeSouza added.

Training of Students
"From the start, we have provided high quality training to our students," DeSouza noted.

Students receive six months of rigorous training at ICCA. After that, the academy assists its graduates in obtaining jobs at sea. The practical training can be applied to any cruise line. For example, DeSouza said that students learn Italian and American menus since most cruise lines have Italian-themed nights in the dining room as well as all-American nights. The students learn the specifics of each line once they are employed.

The 400 students ICCA trains each year are educated in all of the following positions: sous chef, chef tournant, chef de partic. first cooks, second cooks, third cooks, and assistant cooks. The different departments that they are trained in include: hot and cold foods: bakery and pastry; butchery; galley utility; garde manger; pasta; fish; roasts; sauces; pantry; buffet decorations including fruit and vegetable carving. butter carving; and glazing. DeSouza noted that while ICCA offers ice carving, the academy does not focus on it because this remains a specialty of Filipinos.

Most of the 400 students per year get placed by ICCA aboard cruise ships. The primary lines that ICCA is placing students on at present are "MSC Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines and Israeli ships."

"We just put 120 of our trained students aboard MSC's new Splendida," noted DeSouza. "We welcome all cruise line executives to come and visit our campus to see how expertly our students are trained to cruise ship standards," DeSouza said.

Teachers and Standards
ICCA's teachers are from India and have worked on cruise ships for at least 10 years. all are experts in their area of gallery knowledge, but want to be home with their families. Thus ICCA is the perfect match for them.

"Indians tend to excel in sauces, soups, butchery and hot/cold kitchen," DeSouza added. He said that ICCA has many experts teaching in those areas as well as those areas in which Indians are not as well known such as bakery.

"We train our students in all areas and ease them into the rigors of life at sea," DeSouza said. Students work 12-hour shifts at ICCA in order to act used to the long work hours at sea.

ICCA students are also educated in critical, ancillary areas such as public health requirements and issues, according to USPH and UKPH standards.

This adherence to meeting international standards is also evidenced in that ICCA is recognized by the government of Goa under HRDF (Human Resource Development Foundation) and meets the international HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) standards. The academy was also put through a standardization test approved by IRQS, making it the only academy in Goa to receive an ISO 22000-2005 standard.

Future
With no shortage of eager students willing to train lone hours to learn a marketable career, and with cruise lines continuing to need manpower with each new ship they bring on line, ICCA is in a position to enjoy a bright future. This is because ICCA brings solutions to cruise line executives, while helping to solve a bit of the unemployment problem in India, according to DeSouza.

- Luisa Frey