Maritime Simulation News

(www.timesdispatch.com)

FORT EUSTIS - The bow of the Army’s high-speed vessel pitched and rolled across the white-capped waves, slipping quickly through the sea.

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Welcome aboard Fort Eustis’ vessel bridge simulator and welcome to the future of U.S. military training.

Virtual reality systems are key to the Pentagon’s vision of a new Joint National Training Capability program directed by the military’s Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk. The Defense Department plans to spend $1.2 billion between 2004 and 2009 developing the program.

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Computer Science Corp.’s Virtual Ship software is built on commercial off-the-shelf software. The simulator operates on Windows NT and mixed Windows and Unix systems, the company says.

(business-times.asia1.com.sg)

(SINGAPORE) The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has cut fees for mandatory courses and at its integrated simulation centre (ISC) by an average of 19 per cent this year.
The cuts apply to 13 of the assessment courses, including pilotage exemption, port limit tanker masters, passenger ferry safety and tug master training.

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The state-of-the-art $12 million virtual vessel at Singapore Polytechnic is among the most sophisticated in the world, with inter-linkable simulation systems covering all aspects of ship operations, including engine room operations, pilotage and crisis management, with realistic bridge-view graphics.

(icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk)

ONE of the most advanced maritime training centres in Europe is running team building exercises for Merseyside office workers.

The Lairdside Maritime Centre in Birkenhead is part of Liverpool John Moores University and has developed the only 360º ship simulator in the UK.

It is used to train ships’ officers how to handle vessels using state-of-theart computer projections of the Mersey or other waterways.

Some of the tasks mariners are set include piloting a tug boat and guiding huge oil tankers up the river in whatever river or weather conditions the trainers decide.

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“As we have the only 360º simulator in the country, delegates have the chance to plot a course down the River Mersey or a stretch of water of their choice and feel as though they are really there. It is so realistic that we often get cases of sea sickness!

“Our newly-introduced tug simulator forces the teams to work together and communicate while facing the task of connecting the two vessels and navigating them to port.”