Essential English for Pilotage and Tug Assistance - Proposal for SMCP Extension

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting the activities undertaken since 2012 by the G.A.M.E. – Gesellschaft für Ausbildung in Maritimem Englisch (German Association for Maritime English) with the seat at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, Nautical Department and presided by Capt. Willi Wittig, Head of the Department. The Association gathers Maritime English instructors and maritime professionals who have recently focused on updating the existing Standard Marine Communication Phrases – SMCP – in order to better match the ever growing requirements in maritime aff airs. The emphasis has been put on the pilotage and tug assistance phrases, as the existing body of phrases has not been felt entirely suitable to the activities performed. Thus, Capt. Matthias Meyer, master mariner and lecturer at the Nautical Department of the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, former elder brother of Port Pilot Society Bremerhaven, was entrusted with the task of proposing a further development of the phrases related to this particular seafaring activity. The other lecturers, including the author of the paper, contributed during the 2014 G.A.M.E. summer seminar to Capt. Meyer’s proposal purely from the linguistic or methodical point of view.