Also present at the inauguration of the AutoChief-4, a Main Engine Manoeuvring and Control System simulator, were Mr. Jon Westborg, the Norwegian Ambassador to India; Mr. GS Sahni, the Director General of Shipping; Mr. Dag Schjerven President & CEO of Wilhelm Wilhelmsen Maritime Services, Oslo; Mr. Svein Sorlie, Managing Director of Wilhelm Wilhelmsen; Ralph J Reuben, Senior General Manager of Barwil Forbes; Mr. George Mathew, the Consul General of Norway; Capt. Y. Sharma, head of IMTC; and Mr. AK Ishwar of the Norwegian Consul General offices in India. In Norway, Shipping falls under the purview of the Ministry of Trade & Industry.
The simulator unit manufactured by Kongsberg Maritime (formerly NORCONTROL) of Norway, it is a 4th generation system and is one of the most commonly found remote control systems on board vessels today. About 2500 vessels worldwide have been installed with this system.
It is designed to remotely control all the essential functions of a Main Engine viz. reversing, starting, speed setting and stopping. It also provides additional safety features such as Automatic M/E shutdown/ slowdown as may be required. It consists of Bridge and Engine Control Room Control Panels, Telegraphs, a Safety Panel and a Governor Control Panel. Each of these performs specific tasks towards controlling the M/E safely and efficiently.
IMTC has, in the past, received repeated feedback from the participants of various other courses, that it should procure and develop training on the AutoChief system. Therefore IMTC have procured this Full-mission AutoChief 4 simulator that incorporates all the actual equipment and panels used on board together with a mimic main engine.
This AutoChief 4 simulator at IMTC is the only one of its kind outside of Europe. Presently there is one in Norway and another in Greece. In his address to the delegates at the inauguration, Mr. Hoshang Dastur, Head of Engineering Studies at IMTC said: “A proper understanding of this system and its functions is critical to safe and efficient engine manoeuvring and running. These aspects are not so easily conveyed thru’ text books'.
“IMTC believe that simulation and training on the actual product is the answer. The objective is to build the engineers’ confidence in being able to operate the system, fully understanding its capabilities and limitations and also to troubleshoot the system when required and to remove any fear or hesitancy in the engineers’ mind while performing the above operations.”
The AutoChief 4, together with the NABCO system simulator (another commonly found M/E Remote Control System and which is already present at IMTC) places IMTC in a unique position - to be able to provide product specific training in MIE control systems existing on a large majority of vessels (nearly 80% of the world fleet).
“More awareness is needed about the existence of such sophisticated training aids and shipping companies should take advantage of the fact that it is available at their doorstep in Mumbai” said Hoshang Dastur, adding, “I hope more and more shipping companies recognize the importance and effectiveness of this course. It would certainly go a long way in reducing Main Engine manoeuvring control and circuit related problems aboard,” he said.
About IMTC, the International Trainer in India!
From a small beginning 5 years ago, IMTC has today emerged as one of the finest maritime training centres in India especially in the area of Post-sea competency enhancement courses.
In order to achieve the objective of each training programme, close attention is paid to all the aspects of a training programme.
The experienced IMTC faculty, besides sharing their own knowledge and experience, are able to draw out the best from the participants thus creating a synergy in any training programme.
Optimum number of participants and sufficient equipment & workstations allow each participant to work independently, thus gaining much-desired confidence.
An integral evaluation method or a test at the end of the programme helps in evaluating the knowledge/skill enhancement achieved.