Students from the Merchant Marine Officers Training School (EFOMM) had the opportunity, for the first time, to get acquainted with the simulator that replicates the bridge and assists in the training of Sapura’s Officers.
This month, Sapura welcomed 56 students from the Merchant Marine Officers Training School (EFOMM) at the Admiral Graça Aranha Integration Center (CIAGA) to observe a training session for the company’s officers using the PLSV (Pipe Laying Support Vessel) ship navigation simulator. The equipment, which accurately replicates day-to-day fleet situations, is a project developed in partnership with Lab Oceano – Ocean Technology Laboratory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
According to Guilherme Mendes, President of the Nautical Guild at EFOMM, the purpose of the visit was to provide students with a greater understanding and learning experience with simulators that depict what they will encounter in their future piloting (practical training measured by time spent onboard) and professional routine. The students observed the simulator training to learn about ship movements, received explanations, and familiarized themselves with the tools. Following the presentation, a question-and-answer session took place regarding ships, offshore work, and Sapura.
„This visit to the simulator was very important for them to get to know the bridge environment, where they will live and work. In this case, the simulator already broadens their horizons considerably. The class was also interesting because it raised many questions and answers, providing clarifications about life on board, offshore life, how it works, and what the routine is like. They still have no idea, they are young, around 20 years old. We promoted an icebreaker for the class. And that’s the idea, to make them feel comfortable. And the coolest thing is that many of them will do internships at Sapura. We usually recruit some of these students to work for the company,“ explained Luiz Silva, Marine Manager of the company.
The students were extremely excited about the class. „The simulator is unparalleled, considered one of the most technologically advanced in the country, including DP operations and the feature of VR glasses for total immersion in the bridge. I would like to thank the officers and especially Sapura for providing us with this experience and always being open to us as students. Days like these make our eyes sparkle and our stars shine brighter!“ said Thiago Gomes, a sophomore Nautical student at EFOMM.
For Guilherme Herculano, also a student at EFOMM, the day was very productive for his merchant career. „We gained a lot of knowledge from Sapura’s employees, who answered all our questions about the profession and shared their life experiences on board. We also had the privilege of learning about Sapura, an exceptional company in the field of pipeline laying, with a fleet of 6 PLSVs operating in Brazil, which are very important for the country’s economy. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to get to know Sapura’s maneuver simulator, which surprised me a lot due to the high technology invested by the company in the development of its professionals. Finally, we had the opportunity to visit LabOceano – Brazilian Laboratory of Ocean Technology, which is internationally recognized for being able to reproduce numerous maritime phenomena that occur in the oceans,“ he said.
In the coming months, visits to Sapura’s office are being scheduled for a more detailed presentation of the company, with the participation of Navy professionals who will share their professional trajectory and work routine within the company.
Sapura’s PLSV maneuver simulator
The simulator was launched in September last year. The equipment was developed with the help of visits to Sapura Ônix, the company’s PLSV vessel, aiming to collect information and project data that would support activities such as necessary engineering, 3D modeling of the vessel, adaptation of the simulation room, hydrodynamic hull modeling, and azimuthal control creation.
The simulation equipment as a whole consists of three rooms. The first, housing the PLSV simulator, is the largest, with seven horizontal TVs with a 225° viewing angle; the second has seven vertical TVs, providing a larger view in this direction and a horizontal angle of 150°, ideal for use on vessels such as tugboats; the last room has active communication with the others and is where simulation control occurs through microphones and camera visualization, in addition to all views available to the operator of each vessel. Through it, weather, time, visibility, sea conditions, wind, and current can be controlled, as well as the possibility of including NPC ships (Non-Playable Characters) and routes, adding realism to marine traffic in the region. The room dedicated to Sapura’s project was decorated with images of the ship to enhance user immersion.
The simulator assists in the preparation and training of new Captains and other maritime Officers for entering Brazilian ports such as BANIT, BAVIT, and Açu with extreme precision. This is done alongside a wind and current prediction project to assist decision-making and avoid maneuver cancellations during operations, calculating wind and current values and directions in the next hours and the probability of success through neural networks.