Latest Developments from Transas

Transas Develops an Anti-Piracy Training Solution

In response to still pressing piracy threat off the coast of Somaila, Transas has developed an Anti-Piracy solution that will support maritime schools in performing relevant training.

The Transas Anti-Piracy package consists of a mothership, a smaller mothership and four fastboats with different speeds. The look of all vessels is typically 'pirate': badly maintained and rusty. The fastboats have four different visual states that can be triggered during running exercise to increase the threat by escalation levels from 'fisher' to 'agressive pirate' state.

The training goal is to help trainees understand what effect their avoidance maneuvers would have and practice in resolution of potential hostile targets, evasion techniques, communication, making contact and engaging.

During an exercise, trainees learn how to detect a hostile pirate vessel using ECDIS, radar plotting, AIS information, visual sightings (by fuel barrels on deck, weapons, type and number of crewmembers etc.) and by comparison of target data with known behavioural patterns of pirate vessels. Evasion for merchant ships techniques include avoidance of contacts with potentially hostile vessels or keeping out of range of known hostile vessel's weapons using course and speed changes.  Finally, preparations, best angle of approach and practicing of best course and speed decisions are trained for closing and engaging hostile vessels for Anti-Piracy forces.

If simulator configuration comprises more than one bridge, both attacked merchant ship and assaulting pirate vessel can be loaded as Own Ship. Pirate vessels as Own Ship can be controlled in a more realistic way to simulate typical attack patterns. This allows the bridge team to understand what effect their avoidance maneuvers would have if scenario is observed from pirate's view.

Ralf Lehnert, Transas Marine Simulation Business Unit Director has this to say about the new development: „Anti-Piracy training is all about early reconnaissance and recognition and then about initiating the countermeasures and best management practice at earliest. That's why we put a lot of efforts in making those typical piracy attack vessels visually very close to reality and also provide realistic manoeuvring characteristics. The fact that these exercise objects can change their threat status from simple fishermen to aggressive attacking pirates during a scenario will help the training organisation to provide situational awareness training, from the early radar observation to the final visual identification. Our Navigational Simulator can also provide Naval ships and helicopters as escort objects for Convoy sailing and communication procedure training. This is only a first start of a series of planned functionality, as we see the piracy problem and its harm to commercial shipping unfortunately not as a short term threat only."

The Anti-Piracy solution has already found its first users: US Merchant Marine Academy, Malaysia International Shipping Company and Akademi Laut Malaysia already start courses using new Transas development.

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First in the Country 360 Degree Full Mission Bridge Ship Handling Simulator for Indonesia Oil & Gas Company Pertamina

Transas Marine in cooperation with its local representative PT MultiIntegra successfully accomplished the significant project for Indonesia Oil & Gas company Pertamina. As a result, Pertamina benefits from new simulator facilities, while existing simulators in use from year 2001 have been upgraded. This makes Pertamina training centre the most sophisticated and advanced in Indonesia.

Pertamina Maritime Training Center got the latest Full Mission navigational simulator NTPRO 5000 with 360 degrees horizontal field of view. This will enable trainees to better immerse in the virtual environment and thus increase the training realism. Four part-task cubicle bridges with 120-degree visualization have replaced the previous one 200-degree visualisation bridge to increase simulator centre capacity and increase its cost-effectiveness. To top it off, GMDSS, Engine Room Simulator and Cargo Handling simulator have been upgraded to the latest versions as well.

Suwardi Somantri, Pertamina Learning Center Vice President, commented the delivery of new facilities at Pertamina Maritime Training Center: "We (Pertamina) have been using Transas systems for 10 years already and found that the equipment still runs smoothly.  It really helps us in providing best services in maritime training and education to our customers. It both satisfies us as the user, and also brings us profit.  Transas, as the well-known marine simulator manufacturer, has been giving us the evidence of the equipment quality, easy maintenance and best support from the local partner with its quick response technical support".

This September during Oil, Gas & Marine Indonesia 2011, one of the biggest exhibitions in Indonesia, PT MultiIntegra showcased the Pertamina project which got immense interest from the local maritime community.

Pertamina (Perusahaan Pertambangan Minyak dan Gas Bumi Negara, lit. 'State Oil and Natural Gas Mining Company') is an Indonesian government-owned corporation which extracts and refines the country's oil and gas reserves. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina(established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).