Simulation Trends of Tomorrow

Transas SIM UC 2013 User’s Conference, July 15-19, 2013, Maryland

In the middle of the summer more than 200 maritime professionals from marine simulation training centers from around the world will migrate to the U.S. east coast for four days of hands-on demonstration, topical conferences and a full slate of social events courtesy of Transas’ third user’s conference, Transas SIM UC 2013 – “Future Trends and New Challenges in Maritime Simulation” – to be held July 15-19, 2013 in Maryland. While the user conference is split between two locations, MITAGS and Calhoon MEBA, the majority of the program takes place on the sprawling complex and campus of Calhoon MEBA Engineering School (CMES) in Easton, Md.
According to Neil Bennett, Vice President, Transas USA, the user conference format is an efficient and economical means to deliver full-style demonstration to a broad group of like-minded individual.
“Transas has grown significantly and we have a very large customer base now,” Bennett said. “We have always tried to get personal face-time with our customers, time to talk with them about the issues that are important to them. As you grow larger, it becomes increasingly difficult, so this is a great opportunity to get to know them better, and also, them get to know our people better. Perhaps most important: it is a chance for us to listen and learn, to get their feedback good and bad, to learn and integrate this into the products of the future.”
While Transas is a global leader in maritime simulation, it has not simply rested on the laurels of the Transas name and has crafted a well-rounded program that includes a diversity of high level presenters, plenty of hands-on demonstration time, but just as importantly a well-rounded social program that allows users from different centers, from different countries, to meet, mingle and learn from each other perhaps new ways to make its training center profitable. (Full program details are available on: http://www.transas.com/simuc/)
“For the customers, it’s an opportunity to connect with counterparts from other schools, not just from around the U.S. but from around the world, learning trends and training requirements to help generate more business,” Bennett said. Transas’ global draw means that approximately 40% of attendees will come from the U.S., while the balance will be evenly split from customers in Europe and Asia.
Dubbed “Future Trends and New Challenges in Maritime Simulation,” Bennett said that the focus of the event is of course on new and emerging technologies, but this year’s program will take that a step further. “We are trying to look a bit further ahead than the short term challenges,” Bennett said, “and we will be looking at, for example, internet based solution, maritime distance learning, new technologies and their impact. We hope that the UC will open some positive discussions related to is ‘E-Navigation’ or ‘E-Maritime’ and its future effects on training.”
This is the third Transas User’s Conference, with the first at MEBA in 2005 and the second in Sweden in 2007. While the intent is a similar meeting every second year, a global and maritime economy meltdown has conspired to put the program on hold since 2007. But according to Bennett, positive movement in the market suggested that this year was a good time to restart the program, and strong participation numbers has proven the company correct. “You can definitely see that confidence is growing,” Bennett said. “The shipping industry is still in a difficult place, but we see a positive increase in training initiatives.”


(As published in the June 2013 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - www.marinelink.com)