At the 16th international exhibition on shipbuilding, shipping and offshore development «Neva-2021», which took place in St. Petersburg, Russia September 21-24, an international project on the use of specialized simulators to develop effective methods of eliminating the consequences of oil spills (SIMREC, Simulators for improving cross-border oil spill response in extreme conditions) was presented.

SIMREC project aims at mitigating the risks oil-spills pose on the environment of the Gulf of Finland by fostering cooperation between Finland and Russia and jointly developing a new generation of training simulations. By combining the know-how and expertise of authorities as well as research institutions of both countries, the project’s objective is to develop tailored training programs and optimize the preparedness of response teams. The project is financed by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland through the development of cross-border cooperation between states. The project will be completed by August 31, 2022.

The SIMREC cross-border cooperation project implies modeling of oil spills emergency in the area of the Gulf of Finland and training of specialists to respond to such crisis situations. A range of educational institutions is involved in the project: Kotka Maritime Research Association (coordinator), Aalto University, Finnish Environment Institute, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, University of Helsinki, State Marine Technical University of Saint-Petersburg, Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping (AMSUMIS).

AMSUMIS experts together with Finnish colleagues, have developed a table of key competencies for organizing the effective simulator training. The simulator’s scenarios being developed include the results of the latest studies in the field of human behavior in extreme situations in relation to oil spill response operations, as well as the algorithm for decision-making and interaction with international participants in OSR operations.
“Currently, the largest subdivision of the Professional Development Programmes Institute of Admiral Makarov SUMIS, Makarov Training Centre, is working hard to integrate its simulator with partners of the XAMK University, participating in the development of methodological support for training, and compiling training scenarios for the successful implementation of the SIMREC project,” said Sergey Aysinov. “The completion of this project in the fall of 2022 will allow not only to present the tested scenarios of oil spill response actions on specialized navigation simulators of the center to the international maritime community, but also to integrate them into a unified information environment of the European network of maritime training centers (EMSN)”.

The report was received with interest by representatives of companies with full-time and freelance rescue services operating in the water area of the Gulf of Finland, as well as by IT companies, developers of solutions for the maritime industry.