Coronavirus drives engineer training into the cloud

Ship engineering training has been significantly disrupted by the global coronavirus pandemic that has restricted worldwide travel.

In response to the Covid-19 crisis, much of the training that would have been achieved on engineroom simulators had to be transferred online. This has led to a growth in e-learning programs, courses and assessments for seafarer training, career development and competency.

Training technology providers, such as Kongsberg Digital and Wärtsilä Voyage, have delivered a mixture of simulation and remote learning experiences to shipping companies and shipmanagers.

“The advanced e-learning solutions are extremely well received and have enabled instructors to manage and distribute simulation exercises to students located at home,” Kongsberg Digital senior vice president for maritime simulation Tone-Merete Hansen explained, “whilst the students have had the opportunity to practice and prepare for their exams.”

He said volume training, where operations can be practiced multiple times, is important to increasing skills. “With our e-learning solution this is indeed possible, as the students can get access to advanced simulation exercises anytime and can train at their own pace,” Mr Hansen said.

Kongsberg’s high-fidelity simulator K-Sim Engine and K-Sim Cargo models are available on the K-Sim Connect system for maritime simulation and training. Instructors upload their own exercises from the instructor system at an academy to K-Sim Connect.

Through the eLearning module, students can practice and repeat challenging operations until they have gained the knowledge expected. This includes education in engine control room operations, thermal power plants and cargo handling. There are K-Sim Engine models for VLCC tankers, cruise ferries, container ships, plus models for dual-fuel engines and gas turbines.

“Our cloud-based solutions on K-Sim Connect are true cloud-native,” said Mr Hansen, “which means that the simulation is operating 24/7 without any limitations to the number of instructors and students running exercises at the same time, nor any need to book a timeslot on a remote simulator running the exercises,” he added.

Kongsberg Digital released another application for cloud-based e-learning at the end of November. It introduced radar training compliant with the IMO model courses 1.07 and 1.08.

“This is the first in a line of training applications to be released on K-Sim Connect as part of the K-Sim Navigation portfolio,” said Mr Hansen.

“Within the next few months the radar application will be supplemented with ECDIS, followed by increased functionality for the complete cloud-based K-Sim Navigation,” he continued.

These will be compliant with all the requirements for ship officer training as stated in IMO’s Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) convention.

Kongsberg is constantly developing new engineroom simulation models, based on market trends. One of its latest on the K-Sim Engine is the MAN 6S70ME-C SCC model. “This enables training on switching from one type of fuel to another, the use of different fuel oils and the use of exhaust gas recirculation and scrubbers,” said Mr Hansen.

“Students can access advanced simulation exercises anytime and train at their own pace”

Another model is a diesel-electric, dual-fuel CF-II, which provides training on the use of LNG fuel, LNG bunkering and switching between fuel oil and gas.

“Our latest addition to our K-Sim Engine models is the MAN MEGI-LNG dual-fuel model, which is under development,” said Mr Hansen. “This will simulate two main engines which can be fuelled from the LNG extract from the cargo. The engines will also have the possibility to run on low-sulphur heavy fuel oil, in addition to heavy fuel oil and marine diesel oil, all of which will give the students realistic training in various fuel usage.”

In Germany, the Maritime Center in Flensburg University of Applied Sciences ordered a new engineroom simulator and online e-learning solutions from Kongsberg.

A complete K-Sim engineroom simulator package will be installed in Q3 2021 to teach engineering on different LNG-powered and fuel oil-driven ship engines. It includes a K-Sim Engine Full Mission simulator and desktop classroom configurations.

Due to rising demand for remote working, the university ordered Kongsberg’s e-learning modules, accessible via K-Sim Connect, with six different K-Sim Engine models for a variety of propulsion and engine types.