The ECDIS, the Audit and the Anxiety

Neither general IMO ECDIS courses, nor type specific courses are enough to develop a good situation awareness regarding the use of ECDIS. This is increasingly recognised, and more and more navigating officers receive awareness training for ECDIS.However, even good awareness is not enough in all situations; audits can be an anxiety provoking ordeal for navigational officers, especially when national cultures clash. In the worst cases, the audited officer feels so dominated that they choke up, unable to demonstrate their competence. Much can be gained in empowering these officers with a view to how different cultures build confidence and mastery.Wednesday, I had a seminar with a selection of excellent masters and managers at KGJS on these topics where some very good insights were shared both ways between the mariners and the psychologist. – A good example of union of first-hand experiences and academic theory!

Read more about ECDIS:
What You Didn’t Know | Dangerous ECDIS pitfalls…

For further information please contact our 
Human Factors Specialist (PhD):
Sturle D. Tvedt, at telephone +47 400 48 574 | st@simsea.no

Hurtigbåtopplæring fritidsbåter


Hurtigbåtopplæring fritidsbåter er rettet mot førere av hurtiggående fritidsbåter, dvs. båter som går 20 knop eller mer. Kurset bygger på Sjøfartsdirektoratets emneplaner for trening av navigatører på hurtiggående yrkesbåter og skal bidra til å forhindre misforståelser, farlige situasjoner og uhell. Kurset er et scenariobasert kurs, som skal gi deltagerne en økt forståelse for å operere hurtigbåt under forskjellige krevende situasjoner gjennom erfaringslæring: Nattseilas, seilas i dårlig sikt og krisesituasjoner som mann over bord er eksempler på aktuelle situasjoner som gjennomgås.

Kurset skal gi deltakerne økt forståelse for menneskelige faktorer som påvirker vår atferd om bord, så som evne til årvåkenhet, håndtering av stress, beslutningstaking og måten vi samhandler og kommuniserer på. Deltagerne øker sin kompetanse og ferdigheter i denne sammenheng gjennom teori og øvelser. Kurset besår av en dag e-læring og en dag i simulator. E-læringen er nettbasert og må være bestått før man kan melde seg på simulator trening. Du bestiller e-læringen via Simsea sin hjemmeside fra 5.11.2018. Kursdeltakere bør ha båtførerbevis og eventuelle sertifikater som kreves for å føre aktuell fritidsbåt.

Simulatortreningen kan i tillegg til hos Simsea tas ved følgende simulatorsentre: Sikkerhetssenteret i Måløy, Bodø Maritime Fagskole, Fagskolen i Troms, Fagskolen i Kristiansand, Fagskolen i Ålesund, Sikkerhetssenteret i Rørvik, RS Sjøredningskolen og KM Training i Trondheim.

Flere sentre vurderer å bli med på ordningen.

Kurset tilbys fra 5.11.2018 og annonseres over Facebook etc. Det vil bli lagt ut lenker til påmelding både hos KNBF og Simsea samt simulatorsentrene som er med på ordningen.

Se reportasje fra NRK her

Polar Training

IMO International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) entered into force on January 1st, 2017. The Polar Code addresses ship design, construction and equipment, operational and training concerns, search and rescue and the protection of the unique environment of the polar regions. The IMO Polar Code became mandatory as of 1 July 2018.

Simsea offers Polar Operations Training, basic and advanced courses. The training is approved by NMA and is in accordance the Polar Code, STCW Section V/4, table A-V/4-1 and 4-2.

The Basic and Advanced courses are 2 days at course center each in addition to extensive e-learning modules. In addition, Simsea offers the two courses as a combined course of 4-day duration pluss e-learning. Courses are run in English and Norwegian. The courses contain theory based on the polar code text book (Norwegian and English) written by Professor Norvald Kjerstad focusing the following themes: – The challenge of ice, regulations and standards – Polar Environment and ice characteristics – Ship Technology, polar waters and ice navigation – Human safety and performance – Voyage planning, approaching ice and berthing in Ice – Ice breaker assistance and convoy – Risk Assessment, emergency response and S&R.

We have now been running the combined Polar training for some time. This has given us valuable experience and feedback from participants. Based on this we have no decided to do some changes in the learning program and to run the course over four days. Here are the main elements in the learning process:

  • Most of of the class room lectures will be delivered as e-learning.
  • During the course, the participants will also get lessons from the Polar textbook (by Norvald Kjerstad) which will be handed out at the first day of the course.
  • Classroom lecture will be formed more like “table tops” with introduction using videos and pictures from polar operations and active discussions. To build on the participants experience will improve learning!
  • Simulator exercises will include a thorough briefing of context and planning based on weather and ice forecast, etc. Each exercise will have a number of challenges and will be concluded with a debriefing session.

Assessment

To increase competence and ability!

The assessment tests the candidates’ relevant practical competence and skills for a maritime position of interest, based on the customer’s task or job requirements. The Simsea assessment is carried out in a full-scale bridge, engine room or sub sea simulators and measures how well the candidate perform duties and tasks included
• technical skills as well as situational awareness, decision making, teamwork, management, communication.
• understanding of safe and efficient operations, practice in emergency situations, as well as understanding of the equipment’s capabilities and limitations.
• ability to skillfully handle normal and severe conditions, both with systems intact and with system errors.
Practical assessments in Simsea are arranged in the form of strictly planned scenarios which takes the candidate through one or more typical passages or operations. Each passage contains a set of events that are either typical every day operations or crisis events. The events come with a predefined range of action responses on the part of the candidate. These ranges of action responses are objectively defined in advance on performance scales such that specially trained Simsea assessors can score the behavior in the most objective and reliable way.

The result of the assessment is documented in a valid report of the officer’s documented practical skills, graded performance on the main skill areas of the assessment.

The assessment could also include

• theoretical tests to verify relevant “need to know” knowledge and understanding of the domain of expertise, essential for making decisions, recognizing conditions or overseeing consequences of actions
• evaluation of mental abilities, integrity and biographical data and reference check performed by a professional personnel selection agent.

For further information please contact Simsea’s Human Factors Specialist (PhD) Sturle D. Tvedt.

Special maritime operations

Simulation to secure predictable and safe operations with less NPT

Delivery of special operations requires simulation continuously throughout the project life cycle from tendering to final evaluation. Desktop simulation will often be satisfactory in the early phases for calculations and multi-physics simulation. However, already during detail- and system engineering full scale simulation could be preferable. The most efficient testing of solutions, procedure development and testing, HAZOP and HAZID and not to mention training, is done in full-scale simulators provided the necessary mathematical models. And for distribution and communication purposes, recording of full-scale simulators outperforms other visualization media like animation.
Our customers have in-depth knowledge of concepts, facilities and equipment needed for the operation in question. As customer you may hire our simulators, bring in your own instructors, use your own mathematical models, tools, etc. We take care of all technical, operational and hospitality support.
“A ski jumper doesn’t start the in-run without training on landing; don’t leave the landing of your operations to chance!”
Simsea has a wide range of full-scale Kongsberg simulators; ship bridges (equipped with DP, radio communication, etc.), engine control rooms, high voltage, offshore cranes, ROV control room. We have Clearcom for internal communication, student monitoring and video slave back system. We also have a wide range of simulator models; rigs, anchor handler, CSV, tankers, different fairways, harbors and approaches, subsea equipment and tooling, etc.
In addition, Simsea has in-house expertise in human factors and human behavior embedded in different kinds of maritime and offshore operations.
Some examples of projects we can do in our simulators:

  • Offshore loading from test production
  • Ship to ship operation
  • Operations requiring cooperation between several ships
  • Anchor handling and towing
  • DP drift on/drift off
  • Subsea installation
  • Rig move including anchor handling
  • Harbour and fairway development

Dangerous ECDIS pitfalls …

Traditional ECDIS courses are not sufficient to give navigators an in-depth understanding. Simsea’s e-learning program ECDIS-Sitaware meets this shortcoming by raising navigators’ awareness of the technical limits and the pitfalls for unsafe use of ECDIS. In this course unsafe use of ECDIS is not understood as poor motivation, rather, limitations and pitfalls are explained in a concrete manner using simple language.
The course covers four main themes:

  1. Scale Issues
  2. Wrecks and Obstructions
  3. ENC quality and Alternative Information Sources
  4. GPS and AIS positioning
    The course starts with an introductory chapter explaining what it means to have situation awareness regarding ECDIS. Ten chapters then covers one awareness aspect each concerning ECDIS use. Each Chapter follows a common pedagogic template in three parts: 1) a short presentation of the awareness aspect, 2) an example taken from a real grounding accident, and 3) a multiple-choice question simultaneously activating the learner and testing understanding.
    The course takes the average learner about 1.5 hours to complete. Each chapter can also be printed out in standard format as reflection sheets. This makes excellent supporting material for reflective discussion among navigation officers.
    The learners will get an immediate feed-back on their test score in %. In addition, the learner and their employer will receive an overview of the test result.
    The system is cloud based and can be used on mobile phone, tablet or PC.
    ECDIS Sitaware is developed by Simsea.

Safe Anchor Handling with less NPT

Anchor handling operations are high cost and high risk when moving mobile offshore units from one location to another. Cooperation between the rig and the anchor handling vessel is essential. Detailed planning and thorough preparations are a must. And most important; anchor handling and rig moves require special knowledge and skills. To ensure effective and safe operations this competence need to be maintained; we all tend to forget things we do not practice continuously.
We have now been through a period with low rig activity worldwide with less opportunity to practice. What has happened to the skill level in this period? Of course, it has deteriorated. So, what is the best approach to regain the former competence level now when it seems like the rig activity is recovering?
Simsea can customize any refresher training according to your requirements. However, to get A grade AH vessel and rig crew Simsea suggests a twostep training sequence. Step one includes basic simulator training for the two crew categories. Step two is joint retraining for the crews to facilitate learning from each other. And – AB’s should participate in parts of the training.
The basic training should inter alia include:

  • Workshops including characteristics (terminology, rig types, forces, tension, mob, demob, equipment, twist, etc.), stability theory and IT applications, teamwork and communications and bridge procedures, maneuvering, DP operations
  • Table tops including Rig Move Meeting: SOW, risk assessment, planning and logistics
  • Simulator exercises including deploying PCP and anchor (different methods), towing and recovery of anchors and picking up PCP (different methods)
    The retraining should focus on incidents, incidents and incidents including simulator training with waive heights around 3,5 significant:
  • Deploying incidents like current or windy conditions combined with thruster failure, inappropriate maneuvering towards the rig, technical failure causing the rig to start moving, heavy impact collision with serious damages on rig/vessel; etc.
  • Towing incidents like chain breakage, engine trouble, thruster problems, steering problems, maneuvering in narrow waters/harbor/restricted waterways,
  • Recovery incidents, like current or windy conditions combined thruster failure, inappropriate maneuvering towards the rig, engine failure causing uncontrolled movement close to the rig, etc.

BRM and Ship handling according to IMO Model Courses 1.22 and 1.39

Lots of practical excercises in full-scale simulators

The course objective is to give the participants an increased understanding of handling ships under various conditions and will make a more effective contribution to the bridge team during ship maneuvering in various normal and emergency situations. Participants will gain:

• More insight with the use of engines and helm, effects of wind, current, shallow water, banks, narrow channels and condition of loading.
• Increased understanding of the necessity of planning and efficient bridge procedures at the bridge in normal and emergency situations.
• Increased understanding of human factors that affect behaviour, interaction and communication including shared mental models.

The course lasts for 4 days in addition to an e-learning module and is accredited by NMA. The E-learning includes theory relevant to authority, attitude, planning, briefing, debriefing, managing the bridge, team work, crisis management, human factors in error, awareness, decision making, culture, communication, challenge and response, workload and stress.

Participants will have 20 hours of full scale simulator training

During the course the participants will have 20 hours of full scale simulator training in addition to lectures in classroom. We have included the following simulator exercises:

Case 1: Familiarization with the simulators while approaching Rotterdam.
Case 2: North Sea transfer; executing voyage planned in ECDIS laboratory.
Case 3: Berthing in the port of Haugesund; strong current, use of pilot and tugs.
Case 4: Bank, channel, interaction. Approaching São Sebastiao (Brazil) using pilot and tugs.
Case 5: Anchoring and buoy mooring in Dunkirk.
Case 6: SAR: Man, over board
Case 7: Crisis: Personal injury during anchoring operation.

Observation and feedback emphasizing human behavior is an integrated part of the exercises making use of Simsea’s state of the art Observation Theater and voice recording. The lectures comprise theory related to voyage planning, wind, current, shallow waters, banks, channel interaction, anchoring and buoy mooring, search and rescue and crises.


For company specific courses the cases can be customized to the company for instance based on experienced incidents or non-conformities that needs to be closed.

Our instructors are a team of experienced master mariners and human factors experts.


Ship to Ship Operations simulator training

Simsea now has over some time arranged a simulator training course in Ship To Ship Operations. The course was developed in close cooperation with Equinor and top range tanker companies. We offer a four-day course with 27 hours (!) in simulator and with an e-learning model covering basic human factor issues.


The purpose of the Ship to Ship (STS) training is to train Pilots or Mooring Masters as well as Captains and Officers in advanced ship maneuvering techniques during STS operations by improving communication and mutual understanding between the Captain of the mother vessel and the Pilot or Mooring Master on the daughter vessel during maneuvering. This is ensured through theory and simulator exercises, and in that way a high level of skills in relation to close quarter STS operations is ensured. During the exercises, the participants will gain skills within ship handling theory and ship-ship interaction and become familiar with the use of operational and safety checklists:

1. Maneuvering during STS operations
2. Forces, rudder and propeller
3. Bow thruster and diverse types of tugs
4. STS operation without tugboats underway including ship/ship interaction
5. Maneuvering in shallow water and under different environmental conditions
6. Shallow water and banking effect
7. Anchoring procedures
8. Emergency response
9. How to secure fenders in a safe way and shifting / sailing with fenders alongside.
10. Selecting fender size, number of fenders as well as strengths and limitations.
11. Mooring arrangement
12. Tanker specific layouts
13. Communication between Masters, Pilots and Mooring Masters
14. Methods of decision making of officer in charge
15. Handling of fatigue and stress
16. Risk assessment and identify possibilities in a critical situation
17. Leadership, cooperation and situation awareness

The course is in accordance with “Ship to Ship Transfer Guide for Petroleum, Chemicals and Liquefied Gases” [2013] approved by CDI, ICS, OCIMF and SIGTTO.

If desired, we can customize the training to your specific requirements.
For booking please use the button below.

Required skills on autonomous ships

Illustration Kongsberg

More autonomous ships will come. The development has already started. Unmanned ships could be far away but ships with smaller crews could soon be reality due to rapid technological development.
The biggest impact of this technological change will probably be in the required skills. It is obvious that requirements for engineers and navigators will change to include more knowledge of autonomous systems and the like. In addition, more all-round competence will also be required and not to mention the ability to handle unforeseen incidents that cannot easily be dealt with digitally. Such incidents could be navigational issues like grounding or collisions and different types of failures and breakdown in the machinery, electrical systems, etc.
If we compare with aviation, autonomous planes are already flying but stilled manned by two pilots. It is not many minutes during an intercontinental flight the pilots actually have to physically do something! Their job is mainly to monitor the instruments and the preprogrammed flight and – to be there if something goes wrong especially during takeoff and landing. A good example of this is the famous and successful landing of an airliner on Hudson river. The explanation given as the main reason for this being successful was that the pilots had done it before. Not in real life of course but several times in advanced full-scale simulator.
Maritime simulators have become more and more advanced over the years. Today we can do the same kind of training in these simulators as in aviation especially when the simulator model is a “digital twin” of the vessel in use. Even more: We can simulate both bridge and engine control rooms in holistic scenarios that reflect tomorrows all-round skill requirements.
Again; the people on-board any vessel, indeed also on autonomous ships, need to be prepared to meet incidents by training. The most efficient learning strategy to handle challenging situations is based on simulator training.