The following is the text of a news release from the Seamen's Church Institute:
(PADUCAH, Ky.) — The Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) has signed a contract with Kongsberg Maritime for a complete overhaul of important maritime simulator technology at its Center for Maritime Education campus in Paducah, Ky. Installation begins in August to replace existing wheelhouse architecture with entirely new mechanisms and navigation tools that more closely mirror contemporary equipment and construction of modern vessels.
The new simulators strengthen SCI’s service to American mariners. “We have spent the last year gathering input from professional mariners and researching next-generation simulation technology,” says Captain Stephen Polk, Director of Maritime Education & Training at SCI. “The renovation of SCI’s equipment provides mariners with the tools they’ve requested and sets the stage for SCI to deliver the best possible training for years to come.”
Technology employed in the new simulators provides capacity for nighttime scenes on over 20 newly modeled vessels. All wheelhouses employ traditional steering levers, conventional throttles, and emerging z-drive azimuth thruster systems.
Phase 1 construction is scheduled for completion in November 2014.
About SCI’s Center for Maritime Education Simulators
Each year, SCI equips over 1,800 American mariners with expert training on simulators that mirror real-life situations on the water, helping to safeguard waterways running through many local communities. SCI’s specialized programs give mariners the opportunity to test and hone skills in difficult situations without risk to life and property, and these true-to-life virtual wheelhouses allow mariners to advance further along individual career paths with US Coast Guard-approved courses and assessments.
About SCI
Founded in 1834 and affiliated with the Episcopal Church, though nondenominational in terms of its trustees, staff and service to mariners, the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York & New Jersey (SCI) is the largest, most comprehensive mariners’ agency in North America. Annually, its chaplains visit thousands of vessels in the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Port of Oakland, and along 2,200 miles of America’s inland waterways and into the Gulf of Mexico. SCI’s maritime education facilities provide navigational training to nearly 1,600 mariners each year through simulator-based facilities located in Houston, TX and Paducah, KY. The Institute and its maritime attorneys are recognized as leading advocates for merchant mariners by the United States Government, including the US Congress, the US Coast Guard, and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, the International Labor Organization and maritime trade associations.
