First mainland Australia DP training facility opens for business.
A state-of-the-art Dynamic Positioning (DP) Operator Training Facility, featuring an extensive simulator suite developed by Kongsberg Maritime was opened in Northbridge, Western Australia on 22nd November 2010. Owned and run by the Australian Maritime College (AMC), the new facility is ideally positioned to serve the growing Western Australia oil & gas business from its centre in Perth.
"Prior to opening our first DP Operator Training Facility in Tasmania last year, which is also based on Kongsberg Maritime DP simulators, Australian trainees would have to travel to Europe or the US for DP courses, so we are delighted to be expanding our capacity for DP training already," comments John Foster, AMC Search Chief Executive Officer. "The new facility strengthens our ability to support the demand for skilled DP operators by providing high quality training using serving DP officers as instructors and sophisticated simulators able to exactly mimic the operation and maintenance of complex DP systems."
The Kongsberg Maritime simulator installation at the new AMC facility in Perth includes the K-POS Basic DP Trainer for classroom arrangement, complete with 4 DP Models and the K-POS Advanced DP Trainer with Instructor Station and dual redundant DP control system complete with 4 DP models. All equipment has been designed and delivered in accordance with the Nautical Institute requirements. The Basic and Advanced Trainers can be used to practice DP operations on four DP models: Generic Supply Vessel, Generic Drill Ship, Generic Semi Submersible and Generic Tanker.
"We are delighted to have the opportunity to continue our close working relationship with AMC by supplying the simulators for its second DP training facility in Australia," adds Mark Stuart Treen, Sales & Marketing Manager for simulation, Kongsberg Maritime. "The new facility is a fantastic demonstration of AMC's commitment to offshore training and it joins several cutting-edge offshore simulators we have delivered recently, including extensive full mission systems for offshore operations, anchor handling and DP training for Maersk at its MOSAIC facility and for EMAS Offshore in Singapore. These installations represent the state-of-the-art in offshore training and are helping to make operations safer and more efficient across the board."