Maersk Training Centre Inaugurate the World's Most Advanced Off-Shore Supply Vessel Simulator

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

26 Feb 2010

Maersk Training Centre is taking maritime training to a new level with the new Maersk Offshore Simulation And Innovation Centre, MOSAIC, which features new state-of-the-art simulators. It has taken Maersk Training Centre and Maersk Supply Service in cooperation with Kongsberg Maritime several years to develop what is already being recognized as the world's most advanced maritime training system in a purpose-built complex next to Maersk Training Centre's headquarters in Svendborg Denmark.
"We are very pleased with MOSAIC, which is a result of our great cooperation with our partners - Maersk Supply Services and Kongsberg Maritime. It presents a leap in terms of the training we will be able to offer the offshore vessel crews, who are working in very challenging conditions," says Maersk Training Centre's Managing Director Claus Bihl.
Initially, MOSAIC will be used to train crews from Maersk Supply Service, the world's leading offshore supply vessel operator, and it is the complex world of offshore operations that will keep the simulators busiest. Anchor handling is a particularly hazardous operation and the lessons learnt in the old suite have resulted in Maersk Supply Service having an enviable safety track record in this field.
"Maersk Supply Service is fully committed to a programme of continuous improvement - and training of our crews to meet the highest safety and operational standards is therefore imperative for us. MOSAIC will enable us to take our anchor handling and dynamic positioning training to the next level and ensure we deliver a first-class performance to our clients," says Maersk Supply Service CEO Carsten Plougmann Andersen.
MOSAIC features a state-of-the-art full-mission bridge with 360 degrees of surround vision and includes three independent satellite simulators which will allow real life scenarios to be conducted. This means that training of the most hazardous operations can be carried out in a totally controlled environment.
Behind the scenes a bank of 100 computers drives every action and creates lifelike working conditions which test the participants to the fullest.
"Our present simulator was driven by 20 computers," says Chief Instructor Tonny Moeller. "The new one has 100, which are a thousand times faster. Every movement, of every rope, every chain is mathematically accurate and visually precise. At present the computer can be set to be operationally specific for 76 different vessels and new vessels can be easily added"
Maersk Training Centre was established under the name of Maersk Drilling Training Centre in 1978 following an accident on a rig which was attributed to there being a gap between certification and actual job proficiency.
Maersk Training Centre is an independent part of the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group and the vast majority of its courses and learning products are open to companies outside of the Group. It has fully operational branches in Chennai, India and Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the United Kingdom. Around 50 instructors, management and support staff are employed in the Danish HQ with a further twenty in the branches.
The Centre moved into its headquarters just outside Svendborg in 1999 and this was followed two years later by the opening of a 48 bedroomed Guesthouse which lies adjacent to the new MOSAIC complex.
Last year approximately 8,000 participants passed through the doors of Maersk Training Centre worldwide taking a total of over 30,000 course days.
There are six distinct course areas, Maritime, Oil & Gas, People Skills, Safety, Security and Terminals & Logistics. These courses are conducted worldwide and in the case of Terminals are carried out using mobile custom-built training facilities such as the CraneSIM crane driver programme.
The Centre’s motto ‘a better learning experience’ has been consolidated by a survey and securitization by Det Norske Veritas, the independent classification society, who in 2007 named Maersk Training Centre as their first Centre of Excellence with a benchmark score that has never been surpassed.
Maersk Supply Service headquartered in Lyngby, Denmark serves the offshore industry with over 60 vessels. The worldwide services include rig moves, subsea support, transport of equipment to drilling rigs and production units, anchor handling in ultra deep water, mooring installations and towage of offshore structures, drilling rigs and barges.

Source: Maersk Supply Service