By Sarah Rohrs/Times-Herald staff writer
Posted: 06/13/2009
Employees from Starlight Marine Services go through a simulator exercise at the California Maritime Academy in which they move a ship with a tug boat under the Carquinez Bridge. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
It's early morning. There's thick fog with near-zero visibility, and a severe breakdown in communication between the pilot and crew -- these were some ingredients in the recipe for a shipping disaster known as the Cosco Busan oil spill.
At times, California Maritime Academy students operate under similar conditions, but with one big difference: They can learn from their mistakes without actually causing them.
Cal-Maritime students can master the latest technology and practice their reactions aboard oil tankers and tug boats all within the confines of the university's ultra-state-of-the-art simulation center.
"Everything on the (ship's) bridges is exactly what you would find on a real ship," said Capt. James Buckley, Cal-Maritime's associate dean for simulation.
The only facility of its kind in the United States, the $13 million simulation center allows a variety of realistic situations that ship and tugboat crews might face, such as storms, high winds, crowded docks, even high-speed pirate boats, Buckley said.
Instructors even can introduce commands issued in error so students can gain skills and confidence to question them and react properly, Buckley said.
The facility gives students and marine professionals realistic scenarios so they can learn how to react properly and work well together, Cal-Maritime spokesman Doug Webster said. The ultimate aim is to prevent maritime disasters like the Cosco Busan oil spill, which occurred in November 2007, he added.
The Coast Guard blamed navigational errors and unsafe operating conditions after the Cosco Busan rammed into the San Francisco Bay Bridge, spilling more than 53,000 gallons of oil.
Cal-Maritime students, specializing in maritime operations or engineering, take numerous classes in the simulation center, Webster said. Maritime professionals also use the facility.
Two of Cal-Maritime's seven simulation facilities provide 360-degree views of each setting; others give 225- or 180-degree views.
Inside the darkened simulation rooms, students operate and keep track of radar, GPS and other control panels just like they would on any ship or tugboat.
Projected around them are the vessel and maritime scene they are in, such as a tugboat pulling a ship underneath a bridge, or a large tanker approaching a crowded port.
The center is the newest addition to California Maritime Academy, one of 23 campuses in the California State University system.
With most of Cal-Maritime students on their training cruise aboard the "Golden Bear," the San Francisco-based Starlight Marine Services mariners made good use of the simulation center this week, practicing maneuvers involving a tugboat and an enormous tanker.
In the exercise, the tanker was about to pass unde the Carquinez Bridge when it lost steering capabilities. The crews had to react accordingly to keep the ship from crashing into the bridge.
Unbeknown to the crews, another tugboat operator and barge were heading their way, which required fast thinking and quick-trigger responses on their part.
On hand for the practice was 1975 alumnus Bill Atthowe, a San Francisco Bar Pilot, who said the simulation center is a valuable tool, and nearly as good as the real thing. In the exercise, the mariners practiced until they got it right.
Contact staff writer Sarah Rohrs at 553-6832 or srohrs@thnewsnet.com.
