The technology group Wärtsilä is to supply and configure the software solutions for a new, state-of-the-art, purpose built simulation centre being constructed near Portsmouth, England. The centre is an expansion of the Maritime Skills Academy’s (MSA) training portfolio serving the Solent region, and is designed to meet the specific simulation training requirements of cruise, ferry and superyacht clients. MSA Solent is part of the Viking Maritime Group, headquartered in Dover, England. The software is developed by Transas, a Wärtsilä company, who will also provide technical and maintenance support to the project. The order with Wärtsilä was booked in March 2019.
The new facility will be uniquely positioned to service the needs of its targeted clients. It will be the world’s only commercial training centre to have a fully integrated Wärtsilä Nacos Platinum system within the full mission bridge simulator and associated course provision. Wärtsilä will also deliver the software solutions for a full mission engine room simulator with a customised cruise ship model and various other training aids.
“Collaboration with partners and customers is central to realising Wärtsilä’s Smart Marine vision, and this is a classic example of how it can work to serve the needs of the industry. Thanks to our joint collaboration efforts, this centre will deliver exceptional training possibilities through the use of our solutions. This also supports the very modern and popular “as-a-service” concept” says Alex Ponomarev, Sales Expert for Wärtsilä Voyage Simulation and Training.
“We thank Wärtsilä for its support in helping us to deliver a very high standard and culturally attuned training provision. This is an essential part of our key objective, which is to promote the safest and most efficient standards in the maritime industry,” says Matthew Jaenicke, Group Managing Director, Viking Maritime Group.
Prior to the centre’s implementation phase, the desired simulation specifications were established in close cooperation with industry experts. This enabled the achievement of the most realistic physical environment and delegate learning experience possible.
The MSA Solent simulation centre is scheduled to open in July of this year.
Transas was acquired by Wärtsilä in 2018, and is a global market leader in ship & fleet operation solutions, including bridge infrastructure, digital data and electronic charts services, and applications requiring access to real-time information. The company is also a leader in professional training and simulation solutions, ship traffic control, and AI-based decision-support tools. Transas leverages the latest advances in machine learning to create a unified cloud-based platform for managing operations across the entire marine ecosystem. The company has regional offices worldwide and a distribution network that spans 120 countries. Its workforce of approximately 1000 employees includes a large and competent team of engineers who, together with Wärtsilä’s team, work to accelerate the development of smart digital solutions.
Image caption: The new simulation centre will be located at the Lakeside North Harbour business hub, near Portsmouth, UK. Copyright: Lakeside North Harbour
Media contacts:
Mr Alex Ponomarev
Sales Expert, Wärtsilä Voyage Simulation and Training
Wärtsilä Marine
Tel: +44 789 439 4983
alex.ponomarev@wartsila.com
Ms Marit Holmlund-Sund
General Manager, Positioning, Marine Business Marketing
Wärtsilä Corporation
Tel: +358 10 709 1439
marit.holmlund-sund@wartsila.com
Wärtsilä in brief:
Wärtsilä is a global leader in smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasising sustainable innovation, total efficiency and data analytics, Wärtsilä maximises the environmental and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers. In 2018, Wärtsilä’s net sales totalled EUR 5.2 billion with approximately 19,000 employees. The company has operations in over 200 locations in more than 80 countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
www.wartsila.com
Viking Maritime Group in brief:
Viking Maritime Group is leading the way as a maritime services company and operates in the United Kingdom, USA, New Zealand and the Philippines.
Founded in 1988, today the company encompasses a diverse group of businesses including; Viking Crew, the leading maritime crew services provider; MSA, our first maritime skills academy; and, Chiltern Maritime, the UK’s top merchant navy cadetship provider.
Across the company there is alignment and synergy in our ethos, in putting people first, and helping support and develop the talent and expertise within the global maritime industry.
All Wärtsilä releases are available at https://www.wartsila.com/media/news-releases and at http://news.cision.com/wartsila-corporation where also the images can be downloaded.