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Raja Simhan T.E.

Technology now offers something that can make Sinbad envious. You can simulate scenes at sea on your computer first so as to prepare better for real-life challenges.

A marine professional undergoing training on a simulator. — Bijoy Ghosh

A cyclone is threatening to hit Chennai with winds forecast at speeds of over 150 kmph. Capt. Surya's task is to safely manoeuvre a large oil tanker to Chennai port through the high velocity wind and rough sea. It is a day Capt. Surya is likely to remember forever. The odds are against him.

However, after a hard fight with Nature, Capt. Surya lit his first cigarette in nearly six hours when he successfully docked the vessel at port.

WONDERING what's really happening? Well, what has been described above is an exercise taking place inside a small room, and definitely not at sea, as part of simulator-based training at the Indian Maritime College, a private maritime training institute in Chennai. Simulator-based training today is a critical tool for maritime professionals taking up various courses. These include the training requirement laid out in the STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping) 95 convention of the International Maritime Organisation, a worldwide United Nations Agency concerned with the safety of shipping and cleaner oceans. The IMO has officially promoted the use of simulators in personnel training.

A simulator is a collection of hardware and software systems used to imitate the behaviour of a machine, an entity or a phenomenon. Typically, the entity or phenomenon being simulated could be the operation of an integrated circuit or the behaviour of a ship at sea.

Replacing `chalk and talk'

The simulator is a cost-effective tool for training professionals and it is slowly replacing the traditional `chalk and talk' lecture, says K. Nanda Kumar, Director, Indian Maritime College. Besides the standard critical operations on ships, including radar, liquid cargo operation — oil, LPG and LNG and chemical tankers — and engine room, customised versions of simulators are also available. The IMC has set up the Rs 2-crore simulator facility with technical assistance and training from Warsash Maritime Centre of the UK, he says.

Let's take an example of training to handle `dangerous' cargo. For instance, slips while handling `dangerous' liquid cargo in the course of live training on a ship can have serious financial and environmental consequences. Considering the high degree of automation in modern ships and cargo moving in tanks and pipelines, it is easy for an inexperienced operator to make a serious error, resulting in oil spills or other danger to the environment.

But a liquid cargo simulator ensures that trainees have hands-on experience. Candidates learn the right procedures from the start. In this way, the possibility of committing mistakes while operating real equipment can be `drastically' reduced and substantial cost savings effected. Simulators allow students at the training institute to carry out more cargo operations in one week than they would do in a whole year onboard a real vessel, he says.

Simulator training can be informative and interesting. The same programme can also be tested by retention of material. It also reduces the instructors' teaching time. Simulators also provide an environment for training at the students' own pace and helps in providing an environment for assessment, including self-assessment, he says. Computer-based training (CBT) and simulation can be combined to provide the dual role of providing a learning system to deliver effective training on its own without an exercise or the need to supervise the learning process. Further, the combination of visual and audio instruction delivers information in an easily understandable format. One of the advantages of simulators is immediate interaction and feedback to students. It also provides constant, highly effective reinforcement of concepts and content, says Nanda Kumar.

According to Nanda Kumar, the primary cost of simulators and CBT is in instructional design and production. It is not in replication, distribution and delivery of training. The cost per student is reduced as more students use the same programme. It also allows students to develop analysis and decision-making skills, to learn from mistakes and `discover' principles and concepts for themselves. The IMC has trained over 3,000 professionals on radar navigation and over 1,000 professionals on the liquid cargo handling simulator, he says.

Capt. R. Chandramouleeswaran of German Express Shipping Agency, agents for Hapag-Lloyd, agrees with Nanda Kumar that simulators have brought in a `dramatic' change in training of maritime personnel. "However, no matter how much training simulators provide, real-life experience is always different. On rough seas, the master of the ship needs to balance the ship in tune with the swell. One cannot follow the same method adopted in a simulator."

According to Capt Chandramouleeswaran, who has had a long stint at sea, with technology use going up on board ships, senior officers may sometimes find it difficult to adapt to the transition. On the other hand, young cadets are already quite familiar with technology even as they come on board. "Using facilities such as simulators, a young cadet is fully aware of a ship's operation and may question senior officers." Something the senior officers would naturally not welome. The simulator also trains by creating emergency situations such as a storm or a trawler cutting into the ship's path suddenly. Such situations cannot be created during live training. The simulator also provides professionals with an opportunity to learn how they are required to behave in a critical situation. "If there is an error, we can do it once again on a simulator. It is impossible in a live situation," says a cadet.

raja@thehindu.co.in

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