Port/Marine Facility
Personnel with Designated
Security Duties (DSD)
Possibly the most informative, fully online course of its kind, following the IMO model course. It covers all the required subjects as instructed by the IMO, so that those performing the role fully understand their duties and responsibilities.
Security duties at the facility, performed competently
Personnel with designated security duties are the people who actually carry out the Port Facility Security Plan: controlling access at gates and restricted areas, screening persons, baggage, stores and cargo, monitoring perimeter and deck areas, and recognizing and reporting anything that does not belong. The ISPS Code requires that they hold the knowledge, understanding and proficiency for those duties.
This course delivers that training entirely online and at your own pace. It covers the maritime security regime and its legal basis, the port facility security organization and reporting lines, security levels and the measures each one triggers, recognition of weapons, dangerous substances and devices, techniques of access control, search and screening, the handling of security equipment and systems, and the emergency and contingency procedures that apply when a security incident occurs.
Throughout, the emphasis is on what the duty actually looks like in practice, what you check, what you record, what you refuse and what you report, and to whom, so that the facility can demonstrate competence during an inspection or audit.
Train the whole shift without taking it off the gate
Classroom DSD training means pulling personnel off duty, in groups, on a fixed date. Delivered online and self-paced, this course lets each person train around their roster, and lets the facility keep a complete training record for every individual holding designated security duties.
Group and departmental enrolment is available, contact us and we will arrange it for your facility.
On completion of this course, you will be able to:
These are the learning objectives established in the course syllabus, Revision 3, 2026.
- ✓Maintain the conditions set out in a Port Facility Security Plan.
- ✓Recognize security threats to a port or marine facility.
- ✓Carry out inspection, control and monitoring activities at the facility.
- ✓Ensure that security equipment and systems are properly operated, tested and calibrated.
- ✓Use security equipment and systems properly, where such equipment is provided.
- ✓Understand the duties and responsibilities of personnel with designated security duties under the ISPS Code.
Nine chapters and a final assessment
Each chapter concludes with multiple-choice questions. Select a chapter to read what it covers.
—Introduction à l'Académie
01Historical Perspective and Maritime Security Policy
02Current Security Threats and Patterns
03Responsabilités en Matière de Sûreté
04The Port Facility Security Plan
05Niveaux de Sûreté
06Inspection, Control and Monitoring Activities
07Security Equipment and Systems
08Contingency Plans, Drills and Exercises
09Security Administration and Training
FAL'examen Final
Revision 3, 2026. Access the complete course syllabus here.
This course gives the essential education and training to get certified as Port/Marine Facility Personnel with Designated Security Duties and to meet the requirements set out in the ISPS Code.
Globally recognized & industry approved
Virtual Maritime Academy is an Approved Provider of The CPD Group, demonstrating our commitment to delivering high-quality maritime education that meets internationally recognized standards for training excellence.
CPD Approved Provider #783378Proctored online, with a passing mark of 70%
Each chapter concludes with multiple-choice questions, followed by a final assessment. The final assessment is entirely online, with no in-person classroom attendance necessary, and a proctor will monitor you throughout.
As required by Transport Canada and the CPD Group, you must complete a simple online verification form accessible from within the course, including a scanned copy of an official government-issued photo ID such as a passport or driver's licence. A hardcopy certificate is then posted to your address free of charge.
Built on the instruments that govern facility security
The course teaches the hierarchy of sources explicitly: what is mandatory, what is guidance and what is facility practice under the Port Facility Security Plan.
Hold the competence your security duty requires
A Port Facility Security Plan only works if the people carrying out its measures know what to check, what to record, what to refuse and what to report. That competence is a requirement of the ISPS Code, not a preference.
This course provides it, and the certificate to evidence it, completed entirely online, in approximately 10 hours, at your own pace.
Revision 3, 2026. A hardcopy certificate is posted to your address free of charge.