Force Technology News

Simulation-based training has its whole-of-ship/whole-of-team scenarios, but zooming in, the industry is now working on more specific targets.We have a close relationship with technology, evidenced by, for example, the phones we are estimated to unlock around 50-80 times a day. It has changed us. Half the people surveyed in a 2022 King’s College London study said that they feel like their attention span is shorter than it used to be. They are wrong, though, if they think that the average attention span of adults today is just eight seconds, one second less than goldfish.

Simulation-based training has its whole-of-ship/whole-of-team scenarios, but zooming in, the industry is now working on more specific targets.We have a close relationship with technology, evidenced by, for example, the phones we are estimated to unlock around 50-80 times a day. It has changed us. Half the people surveyed in a 2022 King’s College London study said that they feel like their attention span is shorter than it used to be. They are wrong, though, if they think that the average attention span of adults today is just eight seconds, one second less than goldfish.

Force Technology won a deal to deliver its SimFlex4 AR solution as part of an extensive upgrade for the Queensland-based maritime simulation and training facility, Smartship Australia, which focuses on professional pilotage training and development. Smartship's facility in Brisbane includes five marine simulators, including two full mission bridges, one Tug bridge, and two-part task simulators.FORCE Technology’s SimFlex simulator was originally selected when Smartship Australia was first established in 2011.

Denmark-based marine pump specialist Svanehøj has taken over California-based Complete Cryogenic Services, a specialist in service and overhaul of submerged pumps on LNG tankers."The number of LNG tankers globally has grown by around 40% in the last five years, and 2022 was a record year with more than 200 new contracts signed. With this, an attractive service and aftersales market emerges, in which Svanehøj is determined to gain market share," the company said,Therefore, Svanehøj decided to acquire Complete Cryogenic Services (CCS) in Tustin…

FORCE Technology has expanded its engineering design and testing services portfolio to provide remote access to high fidelity maritime navigation simulation for the purpose of testing planned port and harbor construction projects. The new SimFlex Cloud for engineering studies unlocks time and cost savings during the planning and design phase of maritime infrastructure projects as proposed developments can be evaluated in real-time and under highly realistic conditions without…

The new BIO-SEA M-Series ballast water treatment system BIO-UV Group introduced last year has received type approval certification from the United States Coast Guard (USCG).The France-based UV water treatment specialist received USCG certification in December following the successful completion of tests under DNV supervision. The classification society also evaluated and approved all technical documentation and paperwork. BIO-UV Group received IMO approval for the BIO-SEA M-Series in September 2021.“Technically…

DNV has certified Force Technology’s SimFlex Cloud navigation simulator platform according to DNV’s ST-0033 Maritime Simulator Systems Class D standard requirements, for the approval of simulators used for mandatory simulator-based training or as a means to demonstrate competence. DNV requires that all simulators are DNV certified when used as tools for training and examination in accordance with STCW Regulations I/12, in order to issue a DNV SeaSkill Learning Program Certificate to training providers.SimFlex Cloud is the latest development from Denmark's Force Technology.

Denmark's Force Technology launched SimFlex Cloud, a dedicated SaaS (Software as a Service) solution designed to offer realistic navigation training by providing global access to Force’s SimFlex simulator and the Den-Mark simulator engine and model library.Developed in-house with 25 years of navigation simulator innovation and experience at its core, SimFlex Cloud builds on the teaching value of Force Technology’s high-fidelity navigation simulators. As a cloud-based training solution…

Svanehøj said it has landed two major P&C pump orders in China, most recently securing a contract with GSI Shipyard on a total of 96 deepwell pumps for four new MR Tankers.Svanehøj has manufactured pump systems for P&C tankers for decades, but the segment is now becoming a significantly larger part of the business. The Danish specialist in deepwell pumps for marine and offshore has a target of increasing sales of P&C cargo pumps by 40% over the next three years and has just won its largest single P&C order since 2005.The customer is Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Limited (GSI)…

Quickly growing turbine numbers, installed in deeper waters offshore and farther out to sea are needed to serve accelerating demand for wind energy, but safety issues for such structures go beyond the feats of civil engineering making them possible.Supervised remotely, all of these offshore assets nonetheless need periodic physical inspection and maintenance, with the engineers landing on remote platforms either from helicopters or via gangways connecting to vessels in motion.

When will the first fully digitized, autonomous and environmentally friendly ship be ready to sail? The answer is uncertain but the Danish Maritime Authority’s ShippingLab project aims to have most of the technical and managerial challenges solved in as little as two years from now. Tom Mulligan reports.Denmark’s ShippingLab project is a three-year initiative that commenced its work in March 2019 with the aim of developing the first fully commercially operational, fully digital, autonomous and environmentally friendly ship.

Ghanaian tugboat masters in Denmark to acquire new tools of the trade - A team of tugboat masters just finished a training program in Denmark as part of the strategic sector cooperation between Denmark and Ghana.The training has provided the tugboat masters with new tools on how to carry out tugboat missions in the Port of Tema – one of the biggest and busiest ports on the West African coastline.The tugboat masters have shared in kind their views and experiences from tug operations in their own territorial waters.Charlotte Ahrendt Steen, Deputy Director at the Danish Maritime Authority said: “The two weeks of training in Denmark is a…

MarineNews showcases the ten best of North America’s 2018 workboat deliveries. Domestic shipyard production is robust, innovative and getting greener. And, that translates into two kinds of ‘green.’As the domestic offshore energy support sector slowly awakens, other sectors have been happy to take the spotlight in its absence. As always, and if a hull was delivered in 2018, we took a look at it, with several areas as a focus for inclusion into this edition. For my part, I’m always excited when the U.S. boatbuilding sector can deliver for a foreign buyer. We’ve checked that box here. And, that’s because we can compete on price, quality and when we do…

Digitalisation and new business models will be in focus of the research and innovation project Blue INNOship II, which was included in the recommendations of the Maritime Strategy Team. A steering group counting participants from Danish Maritime, Danish Shipping, the Danish Metalworkers’ Union, the Danish Maritime Authority, DTU, CBS and Force Technology have – through the Danish Maritime Fund – created the basis for initiating the work through the hiring of a project manager. Director General of the Danish Maritime Authority Andreas Nordseth states:  “Blue INNOship II addresses central issues of importance to the competitiveness of Blue Denmark.

The EU funded EfficienSea2 project, which aims to implement innovative and smart solutions to increase efficient, safe and sustainable traffic at sea, has finished a full-scale simulation of a wide variety of e-Navigation solutions. The simulations, which involved 8 navigators and took a total of four days, were conducted at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and focused on the human factors in e-Navigation. Multiple services, ranging from a digitalised form of Navigational Warnings to an interactive VTS-reporting system, were tested by the mariners on a full-bridge simulator while wearing eye-trackers and GSR devices to detect emotional changes.

The new collaboration between software supplier Logimatic and research and development company FORCE Technology has resulted in a multifunctional software system capable of providing big results for mariners. Last year Logimatic launched ’Sertica Performance’ as a part of the software system ‘Sertica Fleet Management’. ‘Sertica Performance’ monitors and analyzes the elements affecting a vessel’s fuel consumption. The collaboration with FORCE Technology consists of an integration between the performance optimization system ’SeaTrend’ and ‘Sertica Performance’.

Ferries for Alaska’s harsh conditions, built in Alaska by Alaskans. Vigor and Elliott Bay Design Group team up for a winning combination as the new Alaska Class Ferry Project takes shape. With its network of islands and fjords, rugged mountains and spectacular tidewater glaciers, Alaska’s Inside Passage may make a perfect summer cruise destination, but locals can’t choose when they travel. So when Alaskans need transport, the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) must find a way to move them.

BC Ferries cut time loss injuries in half; it reduced serious injuries by two-thirds; it slashed annual insurance claims costs by more than three-quarters. What are you waiting for? Can a vessel operator completely reshape its safety culture? Can it transform communications, training, operational practices and even employee engagement? And most importantly, if an operator is able to make such sweeping changes, what measurable difference will it make? It turns out it can make a huge difference to almost every meaningful key performance indicator…

The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) awarded their highest honor, the David W. Taylor Medal for notable achievement in naval architecture or marine engineering, to ABS Senior Vice President of Technology Peter Tang-Jensen at the society’s Annual Banquet during the SNAME Annual Meeting and Expo in Seattle, Wash. A well-respected member of the maritime community with more than 35 years of experience in shipbuilding design and engineering, Tang-Jensen has been providing strategic leadership for the classification society’s research and product development efforts since 2006. The ABS technology leader and former Executive Vice President of Odense Steel Shipyard, Ltd.

Knowing the best trim for given sailing conditions is one thing, knowing how to get there is where Easeacon helps provide the solutions. With just 1.0% reduced fuel consumption, a mid-size container vessel saves over US$ 200,000 per year. Return On Investment within 6 months. “It is amazing how many ships sail with trims that are catastrophic to their fuel consumption and CO2 emissions,” says Christian Schack, Force Technology, a Danish expert in model testing and member of “Green Ship of the Future”.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) has entered into a long term contract with FORCE Technology for simulator based training of 350 Pilots and VTS operators focussing on resource management and teamwork between pilots and VTS operators. The contract was secured after the NCA had issued an international tender for the training. ’We chose FORCE Technology because of their high competence level and their experience gained through many years of conducting training with a strong focus on Human Factors and Pedagogical methods within simulator based training’, explains Jon Leon Ervik, Head of Centre for Pilotage and Vessel Traffic Services…

The use of computers to solve hydrodynamics problems in shipbuilding started in early days of scientific computing – as early as in aerodynamics and aerospace. Due to limited computing resources at that time, potential flow model was used in both aero- and hydrodynamics. However, while simulations based on Euler equations, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANSE) and most recently partially resolved Navier-Stokes equations (so-called “large-eddy” – LES – or “detached-eddy” – DES – simulations) have become established tools in aerodynamics…

The use of computers to solve hydrodynamics problems in shipbuilding started in early days of scientific computing – as early as in aerodynamics and aerospace. Due to limited computing resources at that time, potential flow model was used in both aero- and hydrodynamics. However, while simulations based on Euler equations, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANSE) and most recently partially resolved Navier-Stokes equations (so-called “large-eddy” – LES – or “detached-eddy” – DES – simulations) have become established tools in aerodynamics…