In mid-September, 2023, SCI’s President & Executive Director, Mark Nestlehutt, visited the Antwerp Maritime Academy’s inland mariner training facility, De Vlaamse Waterweg (Flemish Waterways), in Willebroek, Belgium. Training for Belgian and other European river and canal mariners is overseen by Managing Director, Philippe De Gauw, whom Mark and his SCI colleagues met during the 2022 Kongsberg Digital User Meeting in Horten, Norway. With the recent upgrade in operating systems to K-Sim, many training facilities using Kongsberg simulators have collaborated in sharing data on best practices and optimization of the new system. Recently, SCI worked closely with peer training centers in Canada and Panama on engineering projects and studies. 

Mark Nestlehutt and Philippe De Gauw by the Brussels-Scheldt Maritime Canal just outside De Vlaamse Waterweg’s training center.

Philippe De Gauw piloting a vessel simulation through the Willebroek Canal Lock.