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Dress rehearsals make sense
Monday 17 November 2008

<p>IT TAKES a ship manager to cut to the quick about ship operations. Peter Cremers of Anglo-Eastern always speaks good sense, and his frank talking about simulators as the key to better performance really does need to be taken onboard.</p>
<p>We have this amazing facility of simulation, not vouchsafed to an earlier generation, so why are we not using it more? If you consult people in the aviation industry, which has been serious about simulation for far longer than shipping has, they will tell you that simulator training needs to be realistic and regular. So what is the shipping industry doing, grudgingly sending senior officers on a simulator course once in their careers, and pointing out that if they want to go again, it will be at their own expense?</p>
<p>Simulators can be absolutely brilliant at detecting dangerous practices before they really matter. They can be used to teach principles, refine methodology, and ensure that people are not going to do anything silly or dangerous in the heat of the moment. They can optimise practices, which then has the potential to directly save money.</p>
<p>I looked at a brilliant full-mission simulator recently at the Port of London&#8217;s facility at Gravesend, which will faithfully replicate all the reaches of the tidal Thames, along with a wide range of tonnage that might be encountered on those busy waters. It is the Thames pilots who are the biggest customers of this equipment, which they use to hone their skills. It is used to practise the port entry of unfamiliar ships, or even rarely visited bits of the river. And because it is available, and the culture is supported, it is used regularly by these expert shiphandlers.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, less skilled people have to cajole and plead with their shipowning companies to pay for simulator training on a regular basis. They will doubtless get a lot out of their encounter, but if these skills are not employed on a regular basis then they will fade, and the money will be wasted.</p>
<p>Simulators can be enormously effective in a whole range of functions, whether it is in the improvement of shiphandling skills or helping a bridge team to operate as a cohesive unit. And whether it is a cheap package that can be used on a personal computer to teach the collision rules and navigation principles, or a far more sophisticated full-mission simulator that can be employed to practise incidents and their management, they are readily available and should be employed more regularly.</p>
<p>Owners tend to be very skilled at manufacturing excuses for not using these valuable training aids more often. They will suggest that it is too expensive a proposition, and that they cannot justify such expenditure at present times. But it is worth considering the investment potential of these useful instruments against the hugely expensive costs of the calamities that a little sensible rehearsal would have prevented.</p>

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