Jan De Nul is putting two new simulators into service at its Aalst training centre, expanding its capability to prepare employees, clients and partners together for offshore projects and to strengthen safety, cooperation and project planning.
One of the systems is a crane simulator that mirrors the crane layouts on the offshore installation vessels Les Alizes and Voltaire. It is used to rehearse installation of offshore wind turbines with tip heights of 300 m and foundations weighing up to 2,000 tonnes.
The crane simulator sits inside a 7 m-wide dome that delivers a 360° view around the operator. According to Stefan Bruggeman, who oversees the simulators at Jan De Nul, the wrap-around image and sound environment is designed so that trainees feel as if they are working at sea while they run through procedures in changing weather, high waves and situations involving seabed subsidence.
Up to four different roles can operate at the same time from separate rooms linked into the same scenario. Jan De Nul said this setup is intended to reveal communication bottlenecks at an early stage and to improve coordination between teams before they mobilise offshore.
Alongside the crane system, the company is bringing a cutter suction dredger simulator into operation. This unit is based on the vessel Willem van Rubroeck and is used for project-wide training on cutter suction dredging activities.
In parallel, Jan De Nul is building three new vessels for offshore energy work and subsea cable protection and is recruiting additional engineers, technicians and operators.
