VSTEP offers realistic bridge training on its NAUTIS simulators. The company has now joined forces with RH Marine, an electrical and automation systems supplier, to add the latter’s Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) to their simulators.
An ECDIS is a navigation system and is mandatory on every seagoing vessel. The cooperation allows RH Marine customers to virtually train their ECDIS skills in more locations anywhere in the world. In addition, as RH Marine mostly services the naval and superyacht industry, customers from outside these sectors can now also get acquainted with its ECDIS system.
‘We are two Dutch companies whose products complement each other very well,’ says Ties Klapwijk, Head of Business Development NAUTIS at VSTEP Simulation. ‘Thanks to this cooperation, RH Marine’s ECDIS system is now included in our portfolio for customers. We are very happy with that option.’
‘Although leading, we operate in a niche market. This increases our availability and visibility abroad. Moreover, as more people start using our system, we can receive more feedback. As people increasingly come into contact with our system during their education or training, the better known it becomes with our target group,’ says portfolio manager Marcel Vermeulen of RH Marine.
According to Klapwijk, the cooperation also offers benefits in case of service or malfunctions: ‘Because we are based close together and the lines of communication are short, we can react quickly.’
Offshore Experience and Naval College simulator
Both companies have teamed up before, for instance for the Offshore Experience of the Maritime Museum in Rotterdam. With this simulator, visitors must, among other things, keep a DP ship in place. VSTEP made its simulator software available for this and RH Marine did so with its DP software.
VSTEP also supplied the VR software for the RH Marine Demonstrator, with which the company demonstrates the operation of its bridge systems to customers and during trade shows. That software is now being upgraded as part of the cooperation.
Last year, both companies worked together on the new bridge simulator at the Royal Naval College (KIM) in Den Helder. For this simulator RH Marine also supplied the chart and navigation software and VSTEP supplied the 360 degree virtual outside view.
