UMIP gets new ECDIS navigation simulator

The rector of the UMIP, Victor Luna, at the ribbon cutting by Ms. Jazmina Rovi during the inauguration of the new simulator.

The Panama International Maritime University (UMIP) launched the new and modern Electronic Chart Display Information System, known in the industry as “ECDIS”. It will be used in training students of the School of Navigation. This is a simulator accepted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to replace paper charts, as required by the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS 74). ECDIS is a system of information with a screen map that displays the electronic chart navigation and position information of the ship, and facilitates planning, preparation and control of navigation, route planning, the positioning and updating of the data. ECDIS also has an alarm system for obstructions in the navigation, presentation of objects and their characteristics, a distance measuring system and ease of notes and observations. Through the ECDIS simulator, the instructor can tailor the presentation of the chart to any particular requirement, highlighting the depth contours and the drafts of the vessel, whether Panamax, Super Post-Panamax, super tankers etc. The new ECDIS simulator, containing all data necessary for navigation, can be consulted at any time by the instructor, or student, that needs to do so. This information is usually located in various nautical publications on paper that the navigator has to check manually, with the consequent loss of time.

The rector of the UMIP, engineer Victor Luna Barahona, speaking during the opening ceremony, stressed the importance of the new simulator for the training of UMIP nautical cadets, with the technology demanded by the merchant shipping industry, emphasizing that the new equipment is an integral part of the systems on board a ship that will be used by Panamanian seafarers on all the seas of the world.

Third-year cadet of Navigation, Pedro Samaniego, said that for the UMIP Cadet Corps the new simulator is of vital importance in the formation process, because it “Puts us in time and in tune with the changes required by new technological trends in the maritime industry.”

The president of the Panamanian Maritime Law Association, Jazmina Rovi, performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new simulator, which could be used by the guests.

This post is also available in: Spanish