Ship simulation centre helps port efficiency

HR Wallingford has added two new purpose-built simulators to its Australia Ship Simulation Centre in Fremantle, Western Australia. This brings the total number of simulators that it owns and operates there to six, makes it one of the largest ship simulation centres in Australia and enabling port scenarios to involve stakeholders including pilots, tug masters and vessel traffic service (VTS) operators.

HR Wallingford’s Ships and Dredging Group Manager, Dr Mark McBride, commented: “By building the systems ourselves, we can ensure they are sufficiently flexible to allow efficient modifications and updates to reflect any changes in port layouts or ships. We are also able to adapt scenarios quickly to meet particular port design and training needs.”

Diverse use

The largest new simulator has a wide beam of over 8m and would typically be configured as a ship’s bridge, while four of the other simulators would typically represent tugs. However, all simulators can be easily configured to simulate any type of vessel, as required. The sixth simulator is primarily intended to be set up as a VTS, but can also function as a secondary ship or tug bridge.

All of the simulators can be linked together to represent a single virtual port environment or run separately to allow for a number of scenarios at one time. HR Wallingford has extensively used one or more of its simulators for comprehensive port design work in Australia,

The linked simulators are also ideal for mariners to familiarise themselves with new port layouts, larger or new classes of ships, and to allow marine pilots and tug masters to practice specialist manoeuvres together.

HR Wallingford’s decision to expand the facility was prompted in part by a new four-year contract recently signed with the Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) to provide integrated pilot and tug master training. PPA, which operates Port Hedland, the world’s largest bulk export port, has been carrying out training at the centre for the last six years.