Model Ship Training on Polish Lake Makes Big Waves in Global Shipping

With the 2003 IMO implementation that requires pilots to take refresher navigation and ship handling training, captains and port pilots worldwide have been flocking to a specialized training centre on a remote lake in Poland to sharpen their skills every five years.

The Ship Handling Research and Training Centre on the shores of Lake Slim has a fleet of miniature ships with courses simulating the Suez canal, Panama canal, and other tricky ports across the globe where sea navigators are conducting serious and potentially life-saving training. 

Since re-training on actual ships is quite expensive, upwards of $8,000, the Polish course offers an economical solution with the navigation of 1:24 scale model boats, making a 10m training vessel representative of a 240m supertanker.

Click here to watch a video about the unique Polish facility.