India to train crew on simulators
FOR the first time in India, master mariners will be trained on simulators.
So far, simulators were used only by airlines to train pilots.
The Lal Bahadur Shastri Nautical and Engineering College in Bombay, under the Ministry of Surface Transport, will soon have three maritime simulators, costing around 500 million rupees (about HK$100 million).
They simulate real-time ship dynamics and the effect of environmental changes like wind, current, waves, fog and day and night.
On the simulators, the mariners can even have the experience of a possible collision at mid-sea.
Some important areas, like Tokyo Bay and Singapore Straits, are selected on the simulators for navigational exercises.
The first of the three simulators - ship manoeuvring simulator - has already arrived and should be ready for operation by the first week of April.
The other two simulators - liquid-cargo handling simulator and engine room simulator - are expected later this year.
Built by IHI Heavy Industries of Japan, the three simulators were given by the Japanese Government as part of its bilateral aid to India.
Meanwhile, exports of marine products in India are expected to earn foreign exchange worth over 21 billion rupees in 1993-94.
Products valued at over 18 billion rupees have already been shipped, according to the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).
Exports during April-December were 35 per cent higher in terms of value and 19 per cent in terms of volume, compared with those in the corresponding period last year.
In 1992-93, Marine Products Authority earned 17.67 billion rupees in foreign exchange.
If the current export trend is maintained, Marine Products will fetch over 50 billion rupees in foreign exchange in the next five years, MPEDA said.
