Rotterdam, 16–01-2023 – In September 2022, to improve realism and expand the scope of training, The Maritime Academy of Toledo purchased a NAUTIS helm station from VSTEP. As the transport in The Great Lakes area keeps increasing, our customer’s NAUTIS simulator contributes to the growth and creating more sustainable transportation in the region.
School Profile
The Maritime Academy of Toledo educates students in grades 6-12 (ages 11-18) not only in the normal courses of study for primary and secondary school, but also in four courses of study in the maritime industry:
- Ship handling and navigation
- Marine engineering
- Culinary arts
- Marine environmental science
The selling point of this schools is that it offers an opportunity to children from less fortunate backgrounds to build a better future. VSTEP is very proud to be a part of this cause.
The Current Set-up
In 2012, The Maritime Academy of Toledo purchased our NAUTIS simulator to give their cadets hands-on experience with navigation, ship-handling, locking/docking, and emergency ship-handling all in a cost-effective and completely safe environment.
The school aims to provide their students with comprehensive training so that they will be able to enter the maritime industry immediately upon graduation. More on this here.
Development of Our Relationship
The Maritime Academy of Toledo has decided to extend their simulator with an additional helm station. It will be installed at the beginning of 2023.
“Our main reasons for our purchase of the helm stand are not only to increase the realism of the simulator experience, but also to encourage increased communication & to give our students practice in the utilization of proper helm command protocol. This will also allow us to build on that knowledge, teaching Bridge Resource Management skills to our more advanced students so that they are better able to proceed to a career as a deck officer.”
– Jerry Bauman, IT & Simulation Director at The Maritime Academy of Toledo
Evidently, this step allows The Maritime Academy of Toledo to enhance realism and scope of their training. Having a helm station as their simulator set-up will enable them to conduct Bridge Resource Management training. This will facilitate communication between the bridge team and the helmsmen and consequently help prepare the helmsmen for their duties.
“Besides realistic helmsman training, key to effective Bridge Resource Management are communication and teamwork. By adding a helmsman station to the simulator, the complexity of the communication and teamwork is further increased, allowing for a range of new training goals to be conducted.”
– Rutger van Eijden, Simulator Engineer at VSTEP
The Great Lakes Region’s Potential
At VSTEP, we notice the continuous investment in more sustainable ways of transporting goods in The Great Lakes. Among other, the fact that the first ship in 50 years has just been launched in The Great Lakes signals rising needs for vessels and transportation in the area.
Our Commercial Director, Tije Vos, and Business Developer, Ritchie van der Ziel, will be traveling around The Great Lakes area in February 2023. Do you want to meet?
About VSTEP
VSTEP creates innovative simulation software for professional organizations worldwide. We are a team of 60 explorers who are always up for challenges. We are not constrained by standards and are flexible in our approach to fulfilling the mission: enable learning by simulation.
We are all dedicated to the same vision: ensure that at least one-third of the maritime industry has obtained their skills through our simulation technology. Hence, we strive to make a great contribution to creating a more sustainable world. We invest in continuous R&D of our software and work passionately as a team to get there.
