HR Wallingford has set up a $2.5 million facility in Fremantle that has two ship bridge and four tug simulators.

This facility has already proved its worth to the Port Hedland Port Authority, which has been using it to sharpen the skills of its marine pilots and tug crews.

One of the key benefits of the simulator system is that it allows the pilot and tug master teams to be put through scenarios such as engine and steering failures on ships.

These are not the sort of things that would be practised in the real world. Not when the ships in question weigh about 350,000 tonnes and are 60m wide, travelling through a 180m channel with a strong current running. That means a 350,000t ship that is one kilometre long can literally be crabbing through a 180m wide channel.

The simulators have wider uses than just training though.

HR Wallingford group manager Dr Mark McBride told Energy News that one of the company’s clients was the Ichthys project.

He said the simulators could prove very handy when large, awkwardly-shaped modules were being delivered.

HR Wallingford can simulate the module on the vessel transporting it and determine whether it will provide any difficulties when it arrives – this way the port personnel can determine the best way to guide the module into place.

Besides Ichthys, McBride said the company was also working for Chevron on its Gorgon and Wheatstone projects.

HR Wallingford’s offering goes beyond simulation. The company also offers port planning services.

“We were involved with Gorgon looking at the channel design, and the same with Wheatstone,” McBride said.

“We do a lot of work with Indian ports as well. A lot of our work is in port design.”