Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) has partnered with Wärtsilä Voyage to launch cloud-based simulator training for its Maritime Training Centres Worldwide (including Russia, Latvia, Ukraine, Georgia, Korea, Croatia and the Philippines).

The agreement with Wärtsilä’s distributor in Manila, AWA Marine, will enable cloud-based simulators to be used for navigation, engineering, and liquid cargo handling simulator-based training.

Columbia Shipmanagement is one of the world’s leading shipmanagement companies, with over 40 years of experience in the industry. It currently employs over 15,000 people worldwide and manages 380 vessels.

Welcoming the move, Capt Faouzi Fradi, Group Director Training at CSM, said: “While officers and crew have been kept away from classrooms and simulators for several months because of the pandemic, Columbia has worked hard creating innovative solutions to ensure continuation of their professional development as well as their readiness to operate safely and effectively onboard.

“We are delighted to announce our partnership with Wärtsilä Voyage and we believe this solution will satisfy the training needs of our officers and meet the requirements of our clients. We will certainly continue our cooperation with AWA Marine and Wärtsilä in the Philippines and will install similar hardware simulators in our training centre when the restrictions will be lifted.

“Cloud-based solutions will continue to be the best choice in the future to train those seafarers located far from our training facilities, or those who are unable to travel during their vacations. Maintaining their training needs while supporting their wellbeing is our continuous goal,” he stressed.

Liam Murphy, Director at AWA Marine, added: “For this project we will be providing CSM with Wärtsilä Voyage’s cutting-edge cloud-based simulator technology. This will allow it to continue training its crew to the highest standards available in the maritime industry, from the world’s leading provider of Bridge and Engine Room Simulators.

“This project is actually the result of another existing development, which was unfortunately delayed due to COVID-19, so we had to adjust our course to adapt to the ongoing situation. The Wärtsilä cloud-based simulation training will be a perfect stop gap solution while face-to-face training can’t be allowed.

We very much look forward to our ongoing partnership and cooperation with CSM, and for some exciting developments to be announced in 2021,” he added.