This Agreement will allow SAAM to use the University’s simulator for its Tugboat Masters training, and the students will have a larger number of places to carry out their professional practices.
Valparaíso, August 10, 2016.- An important collaboration agreement was signed between SAAM and Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB), initiative that will facilitate the training of tugboat Masters through the use of the University’s simulation rooms.
This agreement will allow the University to acquire the required hardware and software thanks to SAAM’s financing, to outfit two simulator’s rooms and adapt them to the specific needs involved in the training of port towage maneuvers. At the same time, SAAM will increase the number of places for Merchant Marine students to perform their professional practice in Company units.
“We are aware that the incorporation of new and powerful tugboats is not enough to provide our services properly. We must also have the highly trained and skilled personnel required to perform safe maneuvers, and therefore, this agreement will allow us to strengthen our Tugboat Masters’ skills and enable more effectively and in a shorter period, those who join our personnel, both in Chile and in other countries where SAAM currently operates”, stated Felipe Rioja, Manager of SAAM’s Towage Division.
The Executive added that this is a positive alliance to promote knowledge and training, “in such a key area for Chilean foreign trade as the port industry and, in particular, for the Region of Valparaiso, which has a great maritme vocation.
In turn, Alejandro Laguna, director of Merchant Marine Engineering, indicated that “thanks to this agreement, which consists in the implementation of the hardware and software required to modify two of our navigation simulation modules, into Class A full mission tugboat Bridges, with an enhanced visual field to perform complex tugboat maneuvers, both in domestic and international ports, it will be possible to increase the working tools and training of both our students as of SAAM professionals.”
Likewise, Lagunas commented that “thanks to these continuous education courses for Regional Pilots, a possibility previously non-existent in Chile is generated, that of learning this technology that is part of their profession on board, so we can say that with this agreement we will finaly be able to meet the need for a training program using the most modern and complete simulators, which are required at international level”.
SAAM’s Towage Division is present in twelve countries throughout the Americas and in more than 70 ports, thus establishing itself as the fourth worldwide operator and the leader in the Americas.
