Speaking due the lunch on the opening days of the seminar the Reverend David Rider told delegates that the SCI would be undertaking the study into the effects of the global rise in piracy on the men and women who crew vessels.

“The Study will look at post piracy trauma and treatment,” he said. “The aim is to look at the effects on crews of operating in areas where there is a serious threat of piracy and the stress that can be involved. It will also look at the effects on crew of being hijacked and how crews can be advised to keep their cool in such situations and therefore avoid being killed.”

Rev Rider added: “The third area is that of how shipping firms can support the families of those crews which are involved in incidents of piracy. There is then the issue of how we can offer effective treatment to those who have been traumatised which at present is not available to crews.”

The study is set to cost the SCI $100,000 per year and Rev Rider said that at present the SCI was seeking corporate funding and gifts in order to undertake the work which will involve the use of specialist psychologists to aid in the study of the traumatic impact of piracy.

“In the grand scheme of things it is not a great amount of money but we are looking for corporate gifts which will enable us to undertake something which will be of real benefit to seamen, their families and shipping firms,” he added.

Founded in 1834 and affiliated with the Episcopal Church, the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York & New Jersey (SCI) is the largest, most comprehensive mariners’ agency in North America.

Annually, its chaplains visit 3,400 vessels in the Port of New York and New Jersey and along 2,200 miles of America’s inland waterways. SCI’s maritime education facilities provide navigational training to nearly 1,600 mariners each year through simulator-based facilities located in Houston, TX and Paducah, KY.

Rev. Rider said the SCI did indeed have a great deal in common with delegates from the marine and energy insurance and risk community through it work in safety training.

“A great deal of our training work is focused on safety and risk so we do have some mutual aims,” he added.

The SCI has launched a new simulator training scheme which is geared towards pilots and ship captains, he told delegates.

“These are not designed as introductory courses but are run from our Houston and Paducah offices for experience pilots and captains as part of their continual professional development.

“They have been designed to provide training and safety advice on major risks for pilots and vessels which includes terrorism.”

Rev Rider said while the training courses were funded by those who undertook them, the rest of the SCI’s work remains reliant on personal and corporate donations and gifts for funding.