Dutch training establishment STC-Group has signed a contract with Kongsberg Maritime to supply extensive upgrades to its large suite of simulators.
The contract consists of sophisticated extensions and upgrades to the group’s Kongsberg Maritime full mission and part task ship’s bridge simulators and its full mission engine room simulator.
A complete upgrade of the group’s classroom set of 15 desktop cargo handling simulators and 15 desktop engine room simulators including instructor stations for both classrooms is also included in the delivery, in addition to new ship and engine models for the different simulators.
STC-Group will also upgrade its current chemical, LPG and crude cargo handling simulator for its classroom configuration and in response to developments in the Port of Rotterdam, the group has also purchased a sophisticated new LNG cargo handling simulator as part of the contract with Kongsberg.
While providing the tools to transform STC-Group’s simulator park into one of the most advanced anywhere in the world, the new simulators will also make it possible to continue to meet the standards set for DNV certification and to comply with the Dutch Inspectorate and the competencies required by the revised STCW, the academy said.
“The contract is a part of the European Transport Academy project partly financed with subsidy from the European Regional Development Fund,” explained Erik Hietbrink, chairman, STC-Group.
“As a major education and training institute, STC-Group evaluates on a regular basis the market for various simulator applications and it appears that no supplier is close to offer the fidelity and realism as found in Kongsberg Maritime simulation models,” he added.
Harald Kluken, Kongsberg Maritime’s area sales manager said: “We are delighted to be able to continue our close working relationship with STC-Group with this new installation and are confident it will benefit from some of our most recent simulator developments, including integration between engine room and ship’s bridge, touch screen technology and 3D engine room models.”