Page 155 - Book_Artelia_10years

Port Revel shiphandling training centre
The Spirit of Port Revel, container ship manned model

The Port Revel centre was opened in 1967 in order to carry out scale-model shiphandling
studies on behalf of Esso. The major preoccupation was to help prevent the risks
connected with maritime transport, which was growing considerably at the time. This
is still an important issue today. Traffic has continued to grow in step with global trade,
with vessels that are increasingly enormous and difficult to handle. The Port Revel centre
has always kept abreast of these developments, by training pilots and ship captains from
a variety of countries and organisations. It has fine-tuned its training courses and the
techniques it uses with its scale models and their on-board pilots, steadily building up
a fleet of ships that accurately represents those used in world trade (supertankers, LNG
carriers, container ships).

We have considerably expanded the area used for shiphandling exercises and have built
ships that reflect the current trends towards giant vessels and enormous tonnages. These
include the Voyager, in response to the growing demand for huge cruise liners; the Spirit
of Port Revel, which allows us to simulate the very largest container ships (20,000 units);
and tugs, to reflect their increasing use in ports. We have also modernised all our facilities
by incorporating a considerable amount of digital equipment. Our unique installations
mean we are now in a position to simulate port configurations, currents, winds and waves
at any site in the world with a much greater degree of precision. We offer our trainees an
extremely reliable facility for carrying out exercises, while using the centre – a veritable
towing tank in the open air – to perform various tests on port infrastructure, ships,
propulsion systems, etc.
At Port Revel, everything is real.
The lake and the features (wave generator, ship canal, quays for mooring training practice) - © Dire l’Entreprise Pilot's cabin - © Dire l’Entreprise

Captain François Mayor
Director of the Port Revel centre

152 I ARTELIA, 10 YEARS OF EXISTENCE, 100 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ARTELIA, 10 YEARS OF EXISTENCE, 100 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE I 153