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Hutchison Port's Port of Felixstowe is introducing a new crane simulator as a driver training aid, in partnership with Drilling Systems (UK) Ltd based in Bournemouth, which is well known in the offshore oil and gas industries.
The port is providing operational expertise and data regarding its cranes, tractor/trailer sets and vessels calling, as well as environmental data, to enable accurate remodelling of the relevant workplace. The data will will then be utilised to produce the new software and hardware for the simulator. Which will comprise an operator's chair, graphics projection system and instructor's station.
The simulator will utilise sophisticated real-time, digital computing thechniques, in conjunction with a wide range of crane controls and functions and, says the port, will provide significant gains in safety and productivity levels.
Sitting in a crane operator's chair and focused upon a 3D visual world, with audible cues from a surround-sound system, trainees can be tested in a virtual operating environment, safe in the knowledge that expensive equipment will not be damaged if mistakes are made.
Potentially dangerous scenarios and "crane operator competence under pressure" may be evaluated in a safe manner, using an array of simulated equipment malfunctions and weather conditions.
The simulator will be developed on a modular basis to enable emulation of different crane types through the use of interchangeable control panniers, said Paul Davey, corporate affairs manager of Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd. It will have the capability to replicate the the feel of a wide range of the port's cranes, from ZPMC, Morris and MGM ship-to-shore cranes, as well as its ZPMC mad Morris RTG-16s.
Phase 2 of the project will provide an upgrade path to a mobile system which can be towed inside a trailer by a suitable 4x4 vehicle to the required site. Work on the simulator began in December 2004, and the phased project is expected to be complete by the end of 2005.
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