Port Newark terminal launches ro-ro training simulator

The interactive system simulates a range of challenging scenarios involving roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessels, while also measuring and correcting driver performance.    Terminal operator and stevedore Ports America has added a mobile  roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) operations labor training simulator at its Port Newark Auto Terminal for the purpose of preparing drivers for a variety of ro-ro vessel scenarios involved in the loading and discharging of rolling stock/auto cargoes, the company said Aug. 31.
   The addition of the “STISIM Drive” system to Ports America’s overall operational training programs is something that the company said elevates it from its competitors. The interactive system simulates the range of ro-ro vessels’ challenging scenarios and also measures and corrects driver performance.
   Years of research and development into the training simulator was led, Ports America, said by Jorge Taboada, the company’s general manager for the Port Newark Auto Terminal and Bayonne Auto Terminal.
   “Drivers are immersed in this educational program through a personalized experience before working actual vessels,” Taboada said of how the simulator training works. “They are provided this unique opportunity to practice potentially risky scenarios in a safe environment while standards and procedures are promoted during the exercise.”
   Among the benefits that Ports America says its customers gain from the company’s investment in this system are damage and risk prevention, as well as a more skilled and reliable labor force, since all drivers are now required to complete simulator training in order to gain the company’s Car Driver category qualification.
   “We are providing our drivers with this comprehensive, state-of-the-art training program tool to achieve superior quality cargo handling,” Ports America’s Northeast Operations Director Jonathon Doyle explained.