To better support marine customers in South America, Rolls-Royce has today opened a new training centre in Brazil, to cater for customers operating the large number of vessels with Rolls-Royce systems that work in country's deep water oil and gas fields. The centre is located at the existing Rolls-Royce Marine Services site in Niteroi, just outside of Rio de Janeiro. It will provide a wide range of training programs, initially in support of winch and dynamic positioning (DP) operations – in which satellite technology automatically controls a vessel's propulsion system to maintain position in heavy seas.

Paulo Rolim, Rolls-Royce, Country Manager – Marine, Brazil, said: "The provision of training to our customers in Brazil is critical in ensuring their ability to maximize the value and full potential of the equipment and systems onboard their highly complex vessels.

"Getting optimal performance from the latest DP systems and deck machinery requires hours of hands on training, and doing so in a safe and cost effective training centre helps ensure crew members are better equipped to meet the real life challenges they face when out at sea, in often challenging conditions."

The training concepts, course materials and equipment are based on those used at the Rolls-Royce Training Centre for Europe located in Ålesund, Norway. The courses and simulators have been designed in cooperation with the Offshore Simulator Centre, also in Norway, and represent the latest in bridge simulation technology.

The new training centre in Brazil is a part of the overall Marine Services Centre, and features a full size demonstration winch housed in the workshop. Courses are based on a mix of classroom instruction, hands on exercises in the simulators and maintenance training. A main bridge simulator with two operator chairs allows for interactive team training with a diverse array of scenario planning options to test any skill level.

In addition, two dome simulators with 180 degree horizons are installed for winch training, and are designed to allow crews to hone their winch operations skills in realistic surroundings. A similar dome houses a crane simulator. All simulator domes use the latest situation modeling techniques and projection systems to give a very life-like representation of winch and crane handling activities on board an offshore vessel.

Adjacent to the simulator domes is a classroom, while another room houses four DP training stations and DP cabinets to provide a mix of operational and maintenance training options.

System maintenance and fault-finding exercises form an important part of the courses. Instructors can show trainees the function of components in the control cabinets, and then also arrange for faults to appear, providing hands-on experience in diagnosing and fixing problems.