Page 66: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2012)

Where Reality Meets Simulation When Royal Caribbean se- lected the Resolve Maritime Academy for its simulationtraining, Denise Johnston, Re-solve Maritime Academy Direc- tor, believes that it was far more than the latest and greatest hard-ware and software that attracted the cruise shipping company. ?What makes us unique is the fact that we are both an emer- gency responder as well as a trainer. We also have one of the best ?live burn?, hands-on ship mock-up facilities in the world where we have trained more than 18,0000 professional marinersand port firefighters. Another thing that we do which is uniqueis our focus on the assessment portion of the training. We are not a ?Certificate Mill?, said Johnston. ?We are putting a great focus on assessment, and providing feedback to the client so that they have valuable insight into the competencies of the people they are sending to us for training. Each course delivers an assessment of the attendees to help the client understand not only the aptitudes of their peo-ple but also their attitude and team skills while training with us.? ?Our new Simulation Training Center greatly expands the training opportunities for shipboard personnel worldwide. In addition to standard bridge and engine room simulation courses, we will also offer training programs incorporating the use of bridge and engine room simulators with our Gray Manatee shipboard fire fighting training vessel/facility as well as Fast Rescue Boat and Hazwoper courses,? John- ston said. ?The plan, not too far into the future, is to create a situation where we can run interactive training scenarios where we integrate the use of the bridge sim- ulators in our building on 17th St. with a client?s bridge team operating the simu- lators. To that we would add a scenario where a live burn shipboard fire would be fought at our shipboard firefighting vessel at our training facility. The bridge team would interact with the fire fighting team via radio to assess, plan and execute ap- propriate fire fighting tactics. We could also integrate our rescue boat training and have one of our fast rescue boats offshore with a Man Overboard situation. The team would have to communicate back and forth with the bridge on a search and rescue operation, while dealing with a shipboard fire emergency and / or other created vessel casualty events." www.resolveacademy.com aging the operation and maintenance ofresearch vessels and facilities for the Navy. She joined Resolve Marine Group, Inc. nine years ago as Director of Adminis- tration, and two years ago assumed the role of Director of the Maritime Acad- emy. ?We offered them the best option. We gave them everything they wanted and custom-built the facility to meet their needs. Resolve?s proposal exceeded Royal's RFP requirements in a number of areas. We added an assessment compo- nent to the training programs,? said John- ston. Captain Wright concurs: ?Joe has done exactly what he has promised he would do, he?s put his full effort of his team into action and he has created whatis truly a world class facility.? Enter Resolve?s New Simulation Center ?Royal is a very forward thinking com- pany,? said Greg Wood, Technical Man- ager of the Simulation Training Center. ?Even before Concordia, they were train- ing their personnel above and beyond mandated training requirements. I don?t believe they would need to change their approach to training in the wake of Con- cordia, because they were already proac- tive in their safety training program. The cruise industry, in general, has always been ahead of the curve in safety train- ing.? ?We build on developing a bridge team that is in sync, and regardless of how many stripes anyone has on their shoul- ders,? said Captain Wright. Everybody has a responsibility and the expectation is that they will speak up and react if they feel that something is amiss.? Resolve Maritime Academy?s new $6.5m, 7,000-sq. ft. simulation trainingcenter includes a 240 degree HFOV Full- Mission Det Norsk Veritas (DNV) Class ?A? simulator equipped with Sperry Vi- sionMaster and NACOS Platinum inte- grated bridge systems. The bridge controls allow for training on both conventional and podded ?vir- tual? propulsion vessels. Integrated with the full-mission simulator is a fully func-tional Bridge Wing with a 205 degree HFOV video wall. The bridge wing al- lows for the realistic transfer of control between the main bridge and bridge wingas well as the realistic docking and un-docking of vessels. The Academy?s sim- ulation inventory includes more than 100 global ports/areas and more than 50 shipmodels for use on the system.The Academy also features four Mini- Bridges, each with three 42-in. visual dis-plays and integrated controls, Electronic Chart Display and Information Sys-tem(ECDIS), RADAR/Automatic Radar Planning Aids (ARPA) and full instru- mentation available on a Conning dis- play. These bridges can operate independ-ently or interactively in any combination including interactivity with the Main Bridge.The ECDIS classroom comprises eightstudent desktop navigation stations with ECDIS, RADAR/ARPA and Conning display. Each station uses the same soft- ware and capabilities as the bridge simu- lators. The Sperry VisionMaster ECDIS and Transas ECDIS are both integrated into the ECDIS classroom and mini-bridges.All simulation areas include a fullyfunctioning instructor station that allows an instructor to interact with the vessels as well as the environment of the training area including a variety of factors such as weather, wind, current, visibility, target vessels, day/night, ship board communi- cation and radio communication. Simu-lation is provided by TransasUSA. Email: [email protected] 66Maritime Reporter & Engineering News FEATURE TRAINING & EDUCATION RIGHTRoyal is a very forward thinking com- pany,? said Greg Wood, Technical Manager of Resolve?s Simulation Train- ing Center. ?Even before Concordia, they were training their personnel above and beyond mandated trainingrequirements. Resolve has its own DNV-approved firefight- ing training school, a popular educationalstop for the local cruise industry, the port and Resolve?s own employees. Simulation at Resolve?s new state-of-the-art training center is provided by TransasUSA. MR March 12 # 9 (65-72):MR Template 3/6/2012 9:14 AM Page 66