'Space-Age' Simulator Program At MarineSafety Prepares Officers To Handle Super Containerships

The first phase of a "space-age" program to prepare officers to handle a brand new class of super ships was recently completed in Newport, R.I. In a program not unlike NASA's recent Space Shuttle crew training, MarineSafety International (MSI), a professional training organization, conducted intensive simulator training for the deck officers who will command five new C-10 containerships.

The giant new containerships, now being phased into service by Oakland-based American President Lines (APL), can each carry the equivalent of 4,300 twenty-foot containers at a service speed of 24 knots with a cruising range of 22,000 nautical miles. They are over 900 feet in length and have a post-Panamax beam of 130 feet. The vessels are the biggest, fastest, and most powerful operated by APL.

The three-day C-10 shiphandling training program is being conducted for APL by Marine- Safety at their simulator training complex in Newport. Two highly sophisticated ship simulators are used. In addition to simulating ship's handling characteristics, the simulators each generate a full color, realtime view of selected harbors as seen from a ship's bridge. Also the depth, bank, current and radar characteristics of the harbor are simulated.

MarineSafety, a wholly owned subsidiary of FlightSafety International (NYSE), operates training facilities at La Guardia Airport and Kings Point, N.Y., and Newport, R.I.

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Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.