DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT FOR TRAINING AND RESEARCH IN MARITIME SAFETY AND SECURITY

Currently, one major priority in passenger shipping is to train ship’s officers and crew with sufficient skills and appropriate procedures to provide adequate protection and ensure the safety of all passengers and crew especially on ferries and cruise ships.

For this purpose it is essential to establish a permanent process of change and development with regard to new precautionary measures against terrorism both in ports and onboard vessels in accordance with existing regulations. Training human mentality and motivation is vital to create a permanent underlying security culture. Simulators have proved beneficial for ship operation training in real time. Modern maritime training institutions all over the world increase the complexity of simulations by connecting full mission ship handling, ship engine and Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) simulators.

There is ongoing research and development to also provide and integrate specific simulation facilities for maritime safety and security issues. For these purposes a new type of simulator is under development for integrated training and research of the specific aspects of maritime safety and security. A so called Safety and Security trainer (SST) simulation system, designed for two- and three-dimensional visualisation, is developed. It contains the 3D visual model of a real ferry. This visual model implemented into the SST is interfaced to an integrated decision support system to assist trainees to cope with safety and security challenges during manoeuvres of the vessel in a full-mission simulation environment.

The system is designed to allow for more detailed evaluation of the effectiveness of safety and security plans under varying conditions and during different courses of events by different series of simulation runs.

This paper will introduce the basic concept of the safety and security training simulator and describe the work entailed for its integration into the complex environment of full mission ship-handling- and ship-engine-simulators. Selected results of a case study dealing with first basic implementation of training scenarios will be demonstrated.