Pjotr Van Schothorst News

A recent cooperation agreement between Damen and VSTEP has been established for the delivery of a NAUTIS Full Mission Bridge Simulator with Alphatron Marine equipment to the Royal Bahamas Defense Force. The delivery is part of the Sandy Bottom Project, which sees the Defense Force acquire a range of Damen patrol vessels, upgrade its existing fleet and develop its port and base infrastructure. VSTEP, with input from Damen, will develop four simulated vessels for use in its custom simulator.

On the 6th of August 2016, the official opening ceremony for The Centre for Integrated Management and Monitoring of the Coastal Zone was inaugurated by Mr. Boyko Borisov, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria. At the opening ceremony were present the Rector of the Academy, Commodore Prof. DSc Boyan Mednikarov and Deputy Chief of Educational and Scientific Activities, Captain Prof. Dr Kalin Kalinov. Among the official guests were parliament members from the Bulgarian government, representatives of other Bulgarian authorities, members of the military, ambassadors and representatives of the maritime industry. Following the delivery of a NAUTIS Class A Full Mission Bridge Simulator and a RescueSim Incident Command Simulator in 2014…

Maritime simulator developer VSTEP said it has received DNV-GL accreditation for its recently introduced GMDSS Simulators. This certification is the latest addition to VSTEP’s range of DNV-GL certified NAUTIS maritime simulators as its GMDSS, Dynamic Positioning, Tug and Class A FMB simulators are now all fully DNV-GL certified for training in accordance with STCW and IMO requirements. The new NAUTIS GMDSS Simulators by VSTEP come in two possible setups, a full hardware version or a virtual GMDSS system with touchscreens.

New simulator wing features DNV certified VSTEP Dynamic Positioning and Full Mission Bridge Simulators and type approved ECDIS classroom. The simulation center of the Technical University of Varna officially opened its new simulation wing on May 21, 2015, following the opening of its simulation center in 2012. All the simulators in the TU Varna training center are delivered and installed by VSTEP. The new wing features a NAUTIS Class B DP Simulator as well as a NAUTIS class A Full Mission Bridge Simulator and a new ECDIS Simulator classroom.

VSTEP, global supplier of simulator solutions for commercial, government and military customers in the maritime and public safety and security sectors, has been awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification by DNV GL Business Assurance. Prior to achieving ISO certification, VSTEP completed a detailed audit of its Quality Management system by DNV GL. The ISO 9001:2008 was achieved by VSTEP with regards to the quality system for development, installation, training and sales of its simulators. The ISO 9001:2008 standard specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements…

The Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna purchased a 360° Class A Full Mission Bridge simulator and an Incident Management Simulator for training of its Naval and Merchant marine students. The simulators were officially opened by the IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu and the Dutch Ambassador in Bulgaria Tom van Oorschot during a ceremony at the academy on September 14. The ceremony was attended by high ranking officials from the Bulgarian and Romanian Navy, as well as the…

The Mexican Navy selected VSTEP to supply a Class A NAUTIS Full Mission Bridge (FMB) Simulator and 24 NAUTIS desktop trainer stations for the Naval Academy in Veracruz. The simulators will be installed at the new simulator training wing of the Heroica Escuela Naval Militar set to open in Q4 2014. The Heroica Escuela Naval Militar is the school where future officers are trained for the General Corps of the Mexican Navy. In line with the expansion of the school’s training facilities, a new simulator wing is currently under construction.

International developer of simulators and virtual training software, Rotterdam-based VSTEP, says it has appointed Joost van Ree as head of sales with responsibility for worldwide sales and growth of the company’s simulator products. Van Ree will be heading up the company’s global sales force for all its simulator products, including the NAUTIS maritime simulator and RescueSim Incident Command departments. VSTEP adds that Joost van Ree brings a career of over 10 years in Senior Sales, Business Development and Management positions with a maritime background to the company. He will also lead further expansion of the global sales & business development team and the VSTEP partner network. Pjotr van Schothorst, VSTEP Director: “We are very pleased that Joost van Ree has decided to join our team.

VSTEP and PC Maritime have jointly developed a software interface which they say makes high quality, yet affordable ECDIS and radar training possible. Following its radar video interface with the Kelvin Hughes and MARIS ECDIS, VSTEP’s NAUTIS bridge simulators now also connect to PC Maritime’s Navmaster ECDIS to provide training colleges with a DNV-approved generic ECDIS training installation. The VSTEP/PC Maritime bridge simulators can be provided as software only to run on standard PCs, or with hardware consoles up to Full Mission Bridge Simulators. The range is designed for nautical colleges and company training centers in compliance with the latest STCW requirements.

UK based ECDIS training and consultancy company ECDIS Ltd unveiled a VSTEP NAUTIS full mission bridge simulator with a 315° viewing capability. It is to primarily be used for Bridge Team training but has been fitted with 4 different ECDIS systems all integrated with the NAUTIS software. The Simulator was opened last month by MP George Hollingbery in Southampton. The Bridge Simulator is to accompany the six smaller NAUTIS simulators already used for visual channels during the IMO 1.27 Model ECDIS Course.

The Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria officially opened its new state of the art simulation training center during a high profile opening ceremony at the university premises on October 3rd, 2012. The opening of the simulation center consolidates TU Varna’s position as a leading maritime university on the Black Sea. The center incorporates multiple VSTEP NAUTIS and RescueSim simulators and will be used for both maritime and incident management education and training. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the Technical University…

VSTEP has announced that its NAUTIS Full Mission Bridge Simulator has received the Class A certification from Det Norske Veritas AS (DNV). The NAUTIS simulators are now qualified to operate as fully-certified maritime training simulators with any maritime training school worldwide. With the certification, VSTEP joins a handful of simulator manufactures worldwide that hold the highest level of DNV certification. After a thorough certification process and last week’s onsite audit by DNV’s Head of Simulator Certification Capt.