During piloting in a narrow channel, or a canal, human errors may yield to ship's grounding, or collision due to inexperience, careless, or a delay in taking into account the effects of natural forces such as wind and currents, the forces of bank effects and shallow water affecting ship's maneuver.
The pilot has to deal with these hydrodynamic forces that affect his vessel through the different navigational areas of the Canal, this can be done by adjusting their impact on the ship by adjusting the speed and distance of his vessel, either to the bank, or to the shallow water.
Forces of nature, wind and currents, the pilot must learn to recognize them and work with them so that his vessel is not affected negatively by them.
All these forces and conditions are present in the Suez Canal in addition to all the other operational characteristics and requirements of the Canal.
Good piloting requires both judgment and experience because piloting is a constant process of analysis and control of variable forces and conditions, a decision-making and action process all the way through.
When maneuvering a vessel in the Canal, the pilot does not have the benefit of friction, and brakes, so he must maintain an equilibrium of motion and forces, in order to be able to control his vessel.
As the international trend in training runs by simulation, Suez Canal Authority established the "Maritime Training and Simulation Center" to be one of the greatest centers specialized in the field of training pilots in the Middle East applying the advanced methods in practical training and educational pilotage courses.
One of the main objectives of this center is to train Suez Canal pilots to gain valuable and superior experiences in the field of pilotage under many conditions, in order to transit safely the Canal to avoid collision and grounding in all environments instead of being directed to anchor, that were not possible before, thus keeping the Canal open all the time for ships transit.   

Main Center's Objectives:

• Training of S.C.A Pilots on the main maneuvers for transiting safely the Canal for different ship's tonnage and draughts up to 66 feet for time being and 72 feet in the future.
• Training the Pilots in order to be able to control his vessel on different weather conditions especially in nil visibility, fog, sandstorm, and full darkness.
• Maintaining the effective track keeping through interpretation of navigation aids and the geographical features.
• Controlling the ships in emergency cases such as a steering system failure using proper procedures and techniques, a fault in navigation / communications equipments, and crash stop maneuver for a ship during the pilotage and mooring alongside the Canal to avoid grounding and collision.
• Analyzing any accident in the Canal in order to find out the causes by the aid of ship's parameter curves recorded during simulation session.
• Periodical examinations for S.C.A pilots according to working rules for promotion and ship tonnage increment.
• Studying the expected behavior of special types of ships before their first transit and making researches on the constructions intended to be executed along the Canal.
• Updating the technical information of the pilots to the latest technology in the field of pilotage with the aid of advanced maritime courses.
• Simulation of any Port, Approach, Channel, or restricted, confined waterways all over the world with the associated necessary navigation aids.

Instructor Console

"Maritime Training and Simulation Center" is the latest achievement in Suez Canal Authority. This center is one of the most specialized centers in the Middle East for training pilots which provide unique, integrated bridge engine room-radar/ARPA systems for real time "full mission" ship handling exercises and experimentation. The center's activity started in 1996 in order to train pilots along the year. 

The theoretical training for pilots will be executed through special courses in the field of pilotage which are mainly applied in maritime institutes and academies all-over the world.
The course is comprised of a number of units, each with a set of discrete training objectives which will provide a logical sequence in the acquisition of piloting and ship handling skills.
On the other hand, the practical training will be executed with the aid of the Ship handling simulator.

The Suez Canal maritime Simulator is designed to meet the demands of all navigating officers and Masters for training in radar plotting, collision avoidance, navigation, maneuvering or for refreshing and updating skills. The flexibility of the system also allows research on certain specified matters.

System Main Features :

• Complete and realistic radar, plotting, and navigation information.
• Real bridge hardware.
• Ergonomic and user-friendly system.
• Modular construction for system extensions and upgrading.
• Realistic simulation of various type of ship.
• Ship maneuvering of various types of ships.

Realistic ship model behavior is included in the system to allow pilots to gain experience in ship maneuvering.
The instructor monitors exercises, run on the simulator console, through several light push-buttons, a keyboard, a data display unit, and a joystick which controls an electronic.
Marker found on the raster radar display unit. A printer, a plotter, and a VHF telephone complete the basic instructor's station.
The pilots will be on the ship's bridge that is designed to closely resemble a typical ship's bridge. The simulated Own Ship responds to commands in a realistic way as realistic situations are encountered by the pilot.
The bridge has controls and indicators for the various functions normally found on a ship's bridge. The engine performance is controlled by a bridge control system and the rudder is controlled by a steering gear and a steering system which includes an automatic pilot.
For navigation purposes, the bridge is equipped with :
ARPA radar, gyro and log indicators, clock, wind speed and direction indicator, rate of turn indicator, rudder indicator, echo sounder, radio navigation aids, ship's sound signals ( fog horn, gong, bell), anchor control.

Previous Achievements

The functions of the S.C.A simulator have been developed by our specialists to represent the situation at any port in the world including its environmental features, the prevailing currents, wind, and weather parameters.

We have already executed the simulation of the national project of " EAST - BRANCH" port in Port Said including the proposed secured navigational aids, to train pilots who are going to pilot ships through the port at the beginning of its real activities. Also we have executed the simulation of " SUMED" port in El-Am El-Sokhna including 4 Single Mooring Buoys for tankers up to 500,000 tons. "DAMIETTE PORT" including its approach, geographical features, and all surrounding shore objects.  

Center's Capabilities

According to our gained experience from the previous achievements, we have now the capability of simulating any Port, Approach, narrow channels, and restricted waters all over the world including its geographical and environmental features by executed its radar and visual database. Supplying ports with valuable and effective electronic and visual navigation aids necessary for safe navigation in a cost damped way, and evaluating their effects in the proposed locations. Our instructors have a large experience in the field of training pilots theoretically & practically on pilotage art.