Belgian Employment Service Chooses Kongsberg Maritime Ship's Bridge Simulators

Simulator facility to feature sophisticated new simulator suite

Kongsberg Maritime has been selected to supply eight bridge Polaris Ship’s Bridge Simulators to Vlaamse Dienst Voor Arbeidsbemiddeling en Beroepsopleiding (VDAB) in Zeebrugge, Belgium. As the public employment service of Flanders in Belgium, VDAB has chosen Kongsberg Maritime’s Polaris simulator as the basis for the training and evaluation of crew for several customers, including Jan De Nul and DEME, two of the world’s major dredging shipping companies.

The Polaris Ship’s Bridge Simulator (SBS) will allow students at VDAB’s upgraded facility to train in a large number of sailing areas and is capable of providing training within a broad range of disciplines, including: Standard navigation, maneuvering and ship handling operations, Search and Rescue operations and ice navigation. The simulator meets and exceeds all STCW requirements, and is designed for straightforward system expansion in order to meet new training requirements.

VDAB Campus Manager, Patrick Naeyaert, commented on the choice of Polaris simulators: “Kongsberg Maritime has performed very professionally and we are convinced that the new simulator installation will help us to educate more people in order to make better deck employees and officers.”

The delivery, which is due to take place in August comprises two Polaris DNV B bridges with 225 degree Horizontal Field of View, visual system and six Polaris Special Task stations each equipped with a 30 degree visual system. The installation will also include an instructor station and a secondary instructor/debriefing station. The full mission simulator consoles will be delivered in solid steel in order to contribute to a more realistic simulation, where students will better associate their training with real-life vessels.

“The contract to supply VDAB was awarded to Kongsberg Maritime after a thorough evaluation process. We were ultimately selected as a supplier to this new customer due to the recognised value and quality of our simulator as well as a proven track-record of meeting deadlines,” comments Harald Kluken, Area Sales Manager, Kongsberg Maritime. “The provision of an extensive list of references within Belgium and The Netherlands together with our highly experienced customer support center located in Spijkenisse near Rotterdam, also convinced VDAB to select Kongsberg Maritime as its preferred supplier.”