Artists impression of the 6 DOF (degree of freedom) motion platform and visual system.
Kongsberg Maritime says that UiT, The Artic University of Norway, has contracted them to provide cutting-edge upgrades and extensions of existing ship’s bridge simulators for navigation and DP training including human factor studies.
UiT’s strong focus on maritime and offshore training, human factor studies and R&D projects strengthens knowledge and competence in Advanced Operations in the polar environment.
Kongsberg explain that the Arctic is of increasing global importance and is very much in focus within the offshore and shipping industries. Climate change, the exploitation of Arctic resources and environmental threats are topics of great public concern, and which the UiT takes special interest in. As a part of its new priority program, the Maritime Faculty will move into a brand new technology building co-located with the rest of the University. The new premises are specially designed to house the extended simulators.
Artists impression of the6 DOF (degree of freedom) motion bridge including a DNV class A Dynamic Positioning system.
The University benefits from a Long-Term-Service-Support-Program with Kongsberg Maritime, which allows significant upgrades of new software technology and new functionalities. By this means the University will have the latest and most advanced simulator system available.
In addition, Kongsberg Maritime has been awarded a contract for extension of the existing main ship’s bridge simulator with a new 6 DOF (degree of freedom) motion platform, more visual channels and integration with a DNV class A Dynamic Positioning (DP) simulator.
With its simulator upgrade and expansions in place, UiT will offer students and external partners a wide range of courses within navigation and ship maneuvering, including ice-navigation, ice management, emergency, search & rescue and operations in the Artic and harsh environments.
The University will also be using the simulators in studies related to Maritime Operations such as, human factors, fatigue studies, sub-sea research and seamanship/organisation development including ice-management studies.
“The simulator upgrade will contribute to raise the quality of seafarers educated at UiT and in addition strengthen our position within advanced studies in human factors, and the maritime and polar environment,” comments Bjørn Batalden, lecturer, UiT the Artic University of Norway.
At the end of May 2014, Batumi State Maritime Academy (BSMA) and Transas Marine Black Sea signed a contract for supply and installation of the Transas Full Mission Offshore simulator. The simulator complex will be one of the most advanced in the Black Sea region.
The full mission Transas offshore simulator with 270 degrees visualisation is based on the Transas NTPRO 5000 software and will be used for training in dynamic positioning operations. The simulator will enable training of crews involved in transfer and supply of mobile offshore units. Training course will be accredited by the Nautical Institute.
Specially for the project, Transas will develop simulator areas for three ports of Georgia: Batumi, Poti and Kulevi. In addition, the simulator will use the next generation universal hardware solutions. Use of the touch screen technology together with the dedicated hardware, makes it possible to use virtually any controls on the bridge without compromising training realism.
The new Transas offshore simulator is an extension to the installed simulator complex in the Batumi State Maritime Academy; it will also get additional functionality to train crews in ice navigation operations.
The BSMA Vice-chancellor Irakly Sharabidze commented: “In few months we will have one of the most advanced dynamic positioning simulators which will contribute to the education of specialist in the offshore operations. Until now, in the Black Sea region this type of simulator was only available in Ukraine and Romania.”
Igor Gorobets, Director of the Transas Marine Black Sea said after the contract signing: “I’m very glad that Transas continues its cooperation with the Batumi State Maritime Academy. Combining the classical school of seafarers training in Georgia with the modern Transas simulation technologies, the Academy will provide training in accordance with the oldest international standards and meet the highest demands for crew qualifications in the marine industry.”
Batumi State Maritime Academy is a government accredited state maritime academy. Specializing in higher education, the institution’s main function is to educate qualified staff for employment within the commercial fleet and maritime transport infrastructure. Batumi State Maritime Academy provides an educational process that is in accordance with the Georgian legislation as well as international conventions.
During a festive ceremony on June 3rd, the new 360-Control Tug & OSV Training Centre was officially opened for the general public and customers. The simulators for the training centre are delivered and installed by VSTEP.
The high-tech training centre is a project of 360-Control, a joint venture between Iskes Towage & Salvage and Damen Shipyards and is located at the port entrance of the Amsterdam North sea canal.
The VSTEP simulators delivered include a 360-degree NAUTIS Full Mission Tug Simulator and a 240-degree NAUTIS Desktop Trainer to allow realistic training of tug & OSV handling and manoeuvring. To allow training of complete exercise scenarios using a vessel and two tugs (one at the stern and one at the bow) these Tug and OSV simulators will be expanded with another 360-degree NAUTIS Full Mission Tug Simulator at a later stage. A NAUTIS Instructor Station was installed to provide total instructor control during exercises.
The 360-Control training centre is set to become a centre of excellence for tug and offshore training in the region by combining the expertise of industry leaders Damen and Iskes with advanced next gen simulators.
Wavelink Maritime Institute has launched a new maritime simulation center in May powered by Transas simulators. The Wavelink Maritime Simulation Center is a training arm of the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU) and one of the first few maritime institutes in Singapore to house four different types of simulators in one location.
The center, which costs $4 million, has a class of 16 workstations to train ECDIS operations. The main bridge with 240° visualisation and secondary bridge with 120° visualisationare based on the latest Transas NTPRO 5000 software and will be used for ship handling training and certification. An integrated Engine room and liquid cargo simulator classof 20 workstations powered by the Transas ERS 5000 / LCHS5000 software will contribute to training of engineering watchkeeping personnel.
The new advanced simulator centre will enhance training of maritime cadets and officers by providing an ultimate hands-on experience in compliance with international standards. This is one of the steps the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union undertakes in order that more Singaporeans will consider seafaring as a career. The simulators will greatly enhance the quality of training and will make the Wavelink Maritime Institute graduates competitive in their careers.
SMOU General Secretary Mary Liew said during the opening: “Traditionally, seafaring skills are very much time-based learning, that is the longer you work onboard a ship, the better skills you have. But now with simulation training, the cadets and officers’ skills are accelerated with real-time feedback in a risk-free environment. Thus, they become better officers, have better jobs and better lives. It is a win-win situation for them as well as the shipping companies.”
Transas Marine Simulation Business Division Andrey Sitkov said, “Transas is honored to be chosen by SMOU. We are confident that the quality of Transas simulation solutions will greatly contribute to the challenging task of attracting more Singaporeans to the maritime industry and increasing the safety of navigation in the end.”
Vera Cruz, May 27th 2014 ““ VSTEP won a prestigious contract to install FMB and Tug simulators at all three FIDENA Maritime Schools in Mexico. The contract was won by VSTEP and its Mexican partner Edutelsa through an official competitive tender procedure and enables FIDENA to replace its old simulator technology with DNV certified NAUTIS simulators.
FIDENA is the educational institution in charge of formal and comprehensive education of all seafarers in Mexico. It is the only institution in Mexico that offers higher level study programs in the maritime field and has wide international recognition. FIDENA has three nautical schools located in Mazatlan, Tampico and Veracruz and its Headquarters in Mexico City.
FIDENA purchased three NAUTIS DNV Class A Full Mission Bridge Simulators and three Tug Simulators for its nautical schools. The NAUTIS Certified DNV Class A Full Mission Bridge simulators have a 270° horizontal field of view and are fully compliant with the Class A DNV Standards for Certification No. 2.14 for Maritime Simulator Systems and IMO model courses 1.22 and 1.32. They address all new elements from the newly revised IMO STCW Convention and allows realistic training of a wide variety of training courses. The Tug Simulators are high performance desktop trainers with a 120-degrees horizontal outside field of view. The Vera Cruz, Altamira, Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo environments have been added to the simulators for training.
The simulators provide FIDENA students with the latest in advanced DNV certified maritime simulation technology for navigation and tug training. It allows FIDENA to meet the latest regulatory requirements and the ever increasing demand in training.
The contract marks a successful partnership between VSTEP and its distributor EDUTELSA. VSTEP will take care of installation and delivery of the simulators at the FIDENA schools in Mazatlan, Tampico and Vera Cruz. The NAUTIS Port Creation Tool was also purchased, to allow FIDENA to create their own simulator environments in addition to the extensive NAUTIS environment library.
SINGAPORE: A new maritime simulation centre was launched on Friday, as part of a plan to attract more Singaporeans to join the industry.
The centre, which costs some S$4 million, boasts state-of-the-art facilities — including engine room and liquid cargo handling simulators, the latest 240-degree full mission bridge simulator, as well as an electronic chart display and information system.
Called the Wavelink Maritime Simulation Centre, it is one of the first few maritime institutes in Singapore to house four simulation systems in one location.
It will allow maritime officers to get more effective hands-on training in various aspects such as ship manoeuvring and resource management, and prepare themselves for extreme conditions and emergencies without being put through real risks and danger.
They can also learn to use shipboard equipment such as electronic charts, automatic identification systems and radar plotting aids.
The centre, which is housed at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability Institute in Jurong, is owned by the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU).
By enhancing the training of maritime cadets and officers, the union hopes more Singaporeans will consider seafaring as a career.
SMOU General Secretary Mary Liew said: “Traditionally, seafaring skills are very much time-based learning, that is the longer you work onboard a ship, the better skills you have.
“But now with simulation training, the cadets and officers’ skills are accelerated with real-time feedback in a risk-free environment.
“Thus, they become better officers, have better jobs and better lives. It is a win-win situation for them as well as the shipping companies.”
For a small country that is highly dependent on international trade, the maritime industry is a core pillar of Singapore’s economic development.
It contributes seven per cent of Singapore’s GDP and provides 170,000 jobs.
But out of some 20,000 officers in more than 4,200 Singapore-flagged ships, only 1,605 are Singaporeans.
Ms Liew added: “With this new set-up, the Wavelink Maritime Simulation Centre, we can actually train a thousand (officers) per year, and we look forward to training more of our seafarers, and to give them a hands-on experience.
“Hopefully, we attract more Singaporeans, for them to be more aware of such a career.”
Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress, Mr Lim Swee Say, was also at the launch.
He assured the audience that the government and unions will help as many Singaporeans as possible to move into the sector, which offers good career prospects and good salaries.
A NAUTIS Full Mission Bridge Simulator was purchased and delivered to the Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron. The new simulator will be used to provide qualitative education and training for the merchant Navy and maritime industry in full accordance with international standards.
The Full Mission Bridge Simulator was delivered and installed by VSTEP at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria faculty in Oron. The DNV class B certified simulator includes a GMDSS and Radio Communications simulator and was installed with a 120° external field of view and NAUTIS Instructor station.
The Maritime Academy of Nigeria is a federally owned educational institute in Oron, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. It was established in 1979 to educate and train shipboard officers and shore-based management personnel. In 1988 the college’s mandate was expanded to training all levels and categories of personnel for all facets of the Nigerian maritime industry. By the end of 2013, the academy has trained about 5,100 Nigerian Merchant Navy officers and more than 67,000 other workers in marine operations.
The Full Mission Bridge Simulator will allow the academy to expand its training curriculum with certified simulator training courses. The Maritime Academy of Nigeria instructors have received extensive simulator instructor and maintenance training from the VSTEP engineers, allowing them to operate the simulator and provide high quality FMB simulator training to academy students.
The Regional Maritime University (RMU) has awarded Kongsberg Maritime a contract to deliver its K-Sim Engine simulator for its premises in Accra, Ghana. The highly advanced Full Mission Engine Room Simulator (ERS), which is due for delivery in May 2014 will enable RMU to provide education according to STCW requirements.
RMU is a tertiary institution that gained university status in October 2007. It exists to enhance development of the maritime transport sector and the fishing industry in member states through the maritime education of students, training of marine personnel, research and consultancy and promotion of maritime co-operation.
“One of the drivers for acquiring a new generation ERS was to promote regional co-operation in the maritime industry, focusing on training to ensure sustained growth and development,” comments Augustus Addy-Lamptey, Ag Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, RMU. “The technical capabilities of K-Sim Engine and the long-term training possibilities it gives us will help us to reach our goal of becoming known and recognized as the tertiary institution of choice in advanced maritime education and training, in Africa and beyond.”
The K-Sim Engine delivery for RMU comprises a full-mission ERS approved by DNV-GL according to Standards for Certification 2.14 (2011). Demonstrating the flexibility of K-Sim Engine, four vessel models will be available on the simulator: Trawler, Ferry, Anchor Handling Tug and Supply vessel (AHTS), and a low speed VLCC. Kongsberg Maritime will also deliver eight K-Sim Engine desktop stations, with Ferry, High Speed Craft with waterjet, AHTS vessel and VLCC models installed.
“In addition to commercial vessel training, the RMU wants to start focusing on the offshore industry, so they ordered the AHTS model, our latest K-Sim Engine model,” comments Harald Kluken, Area Sales Manager, Kongsberg Maritime Simulation. “By providing multiple vessels on the same simulator configuration, we have been able to develop a very cost-effective delivery for RMU, which combined with recognition of our technology leadership and ability to become a long term partner helped to ensure our success in this international bid.”
K-Sim Engine is in operation at maritime and offshore training institutes world-wide. It offers a wealth of functionality and configuration possibilities. Functionality at RMU includes 3D applications for Kongsberg Maritime’s BigView interactive mimic panel system, which can visualize in 3D, i.e., fire in a compartment as well as the impact of firefighting actions.
The simulation models feature compressors, purifiers auxiliary generators, oil fired boilers and main engine along with all control, monitoring, emergency and alarm functions ““simulated to high degrees of physical realism and meeting DNV requirements. The Engine control room console also features a separate simulated CCTV for flue gas indication.
On March 14, Transas Marine and City of Glasgow College signed a contract to supply a simulation complex. The simulation center in the Riverside campus which is under construction, will be one of the largest, the most up to date and most technically advanced simulation suite in the U.K. Training courses are expected to start in Autumn 2015.
The ship simulator suite forms a core part of the new Riverside Campus and the complex nature of the equipment and fit out require a high degree of integration with the New Campus NPD Co (Scottish Government’s Nonprofit Distributing revenue funded procurement model) design. Transas provided technical integration input into the refinement of design for the New NPD Campus project.
The simulator suite will include a full mission engine room simulator, three simulator labs: for studying of electronic navigation systems, GMDSS training, liquid cargo handling and DP operations training. Ship handling simulators part will house four part-task bridges with 135° visualisation and a 360° full mission ship handling simulator which will be used for advanced training and certification.
Iain Marley, Project Director, City of Glasgow College remarked, “Due to expected growth in maritime training over the coming years and introduction of the Manila Amendments of the Standards for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) 2010 conference, the College acknowledges that in order to maintain its position within the sector, both nationally and internationally, that now is an ideal time to enhance the provision of simulation equipment installed previously. The requirement for leadership and management courses at all levels, but particularly at the operational and management levels, as defined in STCW 2010, has also influenced the identification of requirements. This is true particularly in regards to the connectivity of individual items of simulation equipment, as joint training of deck and engineering officers for certain aspects of leadership and management training will now become mandatory. The expected demand for growth in dynamic positioning training has also been a major factor in the design of the simulation equipment.”
The City of Glasgow College was formed in September 2010 from the merger of three existing further education (FE) colleges within central Glasgow including the former Glasgow College of Nautical Studies. The College is now one of the largest FE colleges in Scotland and the only major provider of maritime education and training. Part of the merger strategy included the rationalisation of the estates of the former colleges through the construction of two distinct new city centre campuses (Riverside & City). The New Campus NPD Project will provide modern facilities to enable the College to deliver high class education, in state of the art facilities that will meet the need of the city, Scotland and the wider international market in terms of students and employers.
The Simsea AS maritime training center in Haugesund, Norway, has chosen Kongsberg Maritime to support the extension of its offshore simulation facilities with new simulators and significant upgrades to existing simulators.
Kongsberg Maritime has also recently delivered a new rig simulator model at Simsea, based on the Floatel Superior accommodation unit, which is currently in operation in the North Sea. Developed as a part of the K-Sim Offshore simulators installed at Simsea, the new customized model will be used to train semi-submersible rig personnel in advanced operation of Dynamic Positioning (DP), position mooring system (POSMOOR), stability/ballasting and rig move/anchoring.
Floatel International commissioned development of the simulator model to provide training for maritime rig personnel and to support its safety strategy. Simsea has already conducted courses for Floatel International and today the organization boasts significant experience of rig personnel training on Kongsberg Maritime’s simulators.
The new Floatel Superior rig simulation model offers the opportunity to practice on leadership and decision making in emergency and abnormal situations including communication and teamwork, all of which are training fundamentals. K-Sim Offshore has been designed to provide highly realistic, task specific or full vessel training exercises, making it the ideal foundation for such a diverse training program.
“The new rig model in K-Sim Offshore represents a significant boost to training opportunities for maritime rig personnel in Norway and internationally,” says A. Rune Johansen, Managing Director, Simsea AS. “It is a strong training ground not only for personnel on the accommodation units but also in most other mobile rigs used in the oil & gas sector.”
Opened in February 2012 and built on a foundation of Kongsberg simulation technology, Simsea is one of the most advanced offshore simulator training centers in the world. It currently features a number of DP and offshore bridge simulators including a 360 degree visual K-Sim Offshore simulator with interface to a range of specialized task simulators such as ROV, offshore crane and ECDIS for team training of complex offshore operations.
With the delivery of new simulators starting in August 2014, Simsea will introduce more simulation capabilities based on Kongsberg Maritime’s leading K-Sim Offshore simulator platform, including; two new K-Sim Offshore bridges and K-Pos DP systems, and an extension of the existing full-mission bridge with K-Pos DP. All bridges will be according to DNV Class A. An advanced ROV simulator interface and a hydraulic winch simulator for anchor handling as well as a hydrodynamic modeling tool for development of vessel models are included.
Simsea’s ability to offer courses covering individual and best practice team training and crisis management will be significantly enhanced following the upgrades. Most offshore maritime operations will be covered, such as platform support, close proximity, anchor handling, subsea, offshore loading, rig ballast/stability, power management and DP. The facility’s DP training capabilities fulfil the Nautical Institute’s DP training requirements, allowing for a reduction in operating training time at sea, which enables cost savings and safety improvements for intensive Dynamic Positioning Operator training.
“After two years of operation, we are already at the stage of investing further to expand our services to the maritime and offshore industries,” continues Johansen. “Our diverse capabilities have attracted a huge number of course participants so we are keen to keep Kongsberg Maritime on board to ensure our training technology is as advanced, reliable and flexible as possible.”
