Wärtsilä Enables Innovative Simulation Hub

The technology group Wärtsilä is to supply and configure the software solutions for a new, state-of-the-art, purpose built simulation center being constructed near Portsmouth, England. 

The center is an expansion of the Maritime Skills Academy’s (MSA) training portfolio serving the Solent region, and is designed to meet the specific simulation training requirements of cruise, ferry and superyacht clients. MSA Solent is part of the Viking Maritime Group, headquartered in Dover, England. The software is developed by Transas, a Wärtsilä company, who will also provide technical and maintenance support to the project. The order with Wärtsilä was booked in March 2019.

The new facility will be uniquely positioned to service the needs of its targeted clients. It will be the world’s only commercial training center to have a fully integrated Wärtsilä Nacos Platinum system within the full mission bridge simulator and associated course provision. Wärtsilä will also deliver the software solutions for a full mission engine room simulator with a customized cruise ship model and various other training aids.

Prior to the center’s implementation phase, the desired simulation specifications were established in close cooperation with industry experts. This enabled the achievement of the most realistic physical environment and delegate learning experience possible.

The MSA Solent simulation center is scheduled to open in July of this year.

Transas was acquired by Wärtsilä in 2018, and is a global market leader in ship & fleet operation solutions, including bridge infrastructure, digital data and electronic charts services, and applications requiring access to real-time information. The company is also a leader in professional training and simulation solutions, ship traffic control, and AI-based decision-support tools. Transas leverages the latest advances in machine learning to create a unified cloud-based platform for managing operations across the entire marine ecosystem. The company has regional offices worldwide and a distribution network that spans 120 countries. Its workforce of approximately 1000 employees includes a large and competent team of engineers who, together with Wärtsilä’s team, work to accelerate the development of smart digital solutions.