Viking Maritime Group plans innovative Simulator Centre

UK maritime services company Viking Maritime Group (including the Maritime Skills Academy, Viking Crew and Chiltern Maritime) has identified a new, innovative approach to meeting the specific requirements of the superyacht, cruise and ferry industries for Simulation Training.

A multi-million pound agreement has been reached between Viking Maritime Group (Viking) and Wärtsilä Voyage Solutions (Wärtsilä), formerly known as Transas Marine UK Ltd, to facilitate the development of a new state-of-the-art, purpose-built Simulation Centre in the Lakeside North Harbour business hub located near Portsmouth.

This relationship will ensure that the new Simulation Centre is uniquely positioned to service the needs of its superyacht, cruise and ferry clients, being the only commercial provider worldwide to fully integrate the Wärtsilä NACOS Platinum system within the Full Mission Bridge Simulator and associated course provision.

Viking will provide the essential simulation hardware, Wärtsilä will supply and configure the associated software solutions and the centre will be managed by Viking’s subsidiary training organisation, the Maritime Skills Academy (MSA), with technical and maintenance support from Wärtsilä. MSA will also co-ordinate, manage and deliver any classroom-based STCW 2010 training provision required by clients here, as well as at its well-established training facility in Dover.

In developing this new Simulation Centre for operational launch in mid-2019, Viking and Wärtsilä has had the unique opportunity to collaborate closely with industry personnel in agreeing the desired simulation specifications before the implementation phase, thus achieving the most realistic physical environment and delegate learning experience possible.

Clients will also have the opportunity to liaise closely with Viking’s specialist management consultants during development of the various simulation-based courses, ensuring that course content and delivery is well-matched to the simulation facilities, adapted where possible for optimum effectiveness against known industry practice, and aligned with a company’s policies and procedures.

The Viking/Wärtsilä project team is confident that this unique and customised collaboration will both meet the exclusive, bespoke requirements of its superyacht, cruise and ferry industry clients and deliver the high standards and culturally-attuned training provision needed to support the achievement of a company’s key objective: Delivering the safest and most efficient standards in the industry.

Matthew Jaenicke, managing director of Viking Maritime Group, said, “This is one of the most exciting and innovative steps Viking Maritime has taken by expanding not only its training locations but being a pioneer in how we offer simulator training to the maritime world. With the support of Wärtsilä and listening to client needs, we can provide ship operators with a new business-to-business training solution.”

Alex Ponomarev, sales expert for Wärtsilä Voyage Simulation and Training, added, “We are very happy to have been involved in the discussions and reach the stage we are at today. We are acquiring a brilliant partner in the form of Viking to deliver exceptional training using our solutions. Viking have identified a specific market niche and it is with great pleasure that we can build our system to support the ‘as-a-service’ concept.”

As part of the new centre opening, Chiltern Maritime will be moving its operation to the new facility.

For more information, visit Viking Maritime Group. Sign up to our newsletter to get the best of Yachting Pages delivered direct to your inbox every month.