Online ECDIS

Safebridge have announced that its first new ECDIS online familiarisation course is now available for booking via the online course and booking facility on the company’s newly restructured website. The first course covers type-specific training on the Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT ECDIS system. Courseware for the Transas Marine NaviSailor 4000 will follow shortly.

Safebridge Opens Booking for Its Online ECDIS Familiarisation Courses for Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine’s VisionMaster FT ECDIS

Safebridge is pleased to announce that the first of its new ECDIS online familiarisation courses is now available for direct booking via the online course and booking facility on the company’s newly restructured website. The first course covers type-specific training on the Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT ECDIS system and is fully approved by the manufacturer, thereby fulfilling the mandatory requirements of many Flag States. Courseware for the Transas Marine NaviSailor 4000 will follow shortly.

The Safebridge course content follows the competencies set out by the recommendations of various Flag States and requires a completed IMO 1.27 generic training as a pre-requisite. It takes the trainee through those competencies again in a series of modules using the required, type-approved, ECDIS software in a virtual machine, in this case the Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT, to learn how the actual equipment controls and displays the information. This part of the course is covered under the Learning Management System’s “GuideMe” mode and represents 16-18 hours of study, the time that would be allowed in classroom training.

Every training package, however, allows a three-week window from first login to complete all the lessons. The purpose of this is to permit the trainees to repeat lessons if required and to thoroughly familiarise themselves with the ECDIS equipment in the “FreePlay” mode without any tutorial.

“After being guided through the basic functions, the best way to gain proficiency is simply to exercise and ‘play around’ with the system as it operates in the real world,” says Ulf Steden, Managing Director of Safebridge. “Take a modern mobile phone for example. You will not learn much from reading the manual only, you become familiar by using and playing around with it, gradually gaining confidence that way. A similar pattern can be seen for ECDIS training, which is why we believe that the interactive GuideMe mode combined with the FreePlay mode, in conjunction with the additional time allowed, are so important.”

Upon completion of the learning content, the “TestMe” mode is activated. After successful completion of the test, a manufacturer-specific certificate is issued.

Ship owners, managers and crewing agencies can make “Fleet Bookings” and then allocate these to individual officers progressively; managing the whole process from within the corporate account facility on the Safebridge website. A single login costs 185.00 Euros, reducing substantially for prepaid packages according to the numbers or for a fleet training package.

Please visit Safebridge’s new website www.safebridge.net to find out more about the company and product, and the legislation that is driving the need for training.

About Safebridge

Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Safebridge is an innovative e-learning company formed in 2009 to develop online bridge equipment simulation training solutions for the maritime industry. The company evolved from the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Initiative under the Leonardo da Vinci Program, which ran a project on this subject. Safebridge’s staff includes professional mariners with years of experience at sea. For more information, visit: www.safebridge.net.

Issued by:
Safebridge GmbH
Hammerbrookstraße 89
20097 Hamburg
Germany
tel:  +49 (40) 55 56 57 91-0
e-mail: office@safebridge.net

Directors: Ralph Becker-Heins, Ulf Steden
Commercial Registry: Amtsgericht Hamburg: HRB 110140, USt-IdNr.: DE266105579,
Place of business: Hammerbrookstr. 89, 20097 Hamburg, Germany

Press Contacts:
Lawrence Liddell / Christina Wilbrandt
Safebridge GmbH
+49 (40) 55 56 57 91-0
marketing@safebridge.net

Ken Beedle
Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine
ken.beedle@euro.ngc.com

Diana Souder
Rhodes Communications, Inc.
+1 (757) 451 0602
dsouder@rhodescomm.com