Virtual Marine Announces Renewal of Global Training Nodes in Aberdeen, Scotland and Doha, Qatar

Virtual Marine Announces Renewal of Two of its Global Training Nodes in Aberdeen, Scotland and Doha, Qatar

June 19, 2023 - Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador, CANADA - Virtual Marine is pleased to announce the renewal of two of its global training nodes in Aberdeen, Scotland and Doha, Qatar operated in cooperation with SAFER Training. Through support from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Innovation and Business Development Fund (IBDF), funds were used to expand Virtual Marine’s presence in key international markets and stimulate demand for products and services by establishing training nodes in strategic markets within the energy and marine service industry.

The Honourable Andrew Parsons, KC, Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will be in attendance on Monday, June 19th at 10:30am at Virtual Marine's training facility, 47 Bremigen's Boulevard in Paradise, NL to commemorate the announcement and discuss the success of the IBDF project. Managing Director of SAFER Training, Ian McMillin, will also be on site for the announcement and demonstrations of Virtual Marine’s simulators.

Forged in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the training nodes in Aberdeen and Doha have helped accelerate the introduction of lifeboat coxswain and fast rescue boat simulation technologies into key upstream energy markets. Today, these training nodes continue to grow, with expansion beyond upstream energy into merchant marine training segments, regulated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) under the Standards for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) applications for training mariners. The facilities deployed through the IBDF Project have been used to train over 1,500 international lifeboat coxswains in the past 3 years.

Clayton Burry, VP of Sales at Virtual Marine said “New regulatory approvals at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have created new green chutes for Virtual Marine and SAFER as marine training providers transition away from real boat coxswain training to simulation. As we move forward with a renewal of our joint training node operations, we also look to our continued market expansion with SAFER, building further on the business supported in no small part by Minister Parsons and the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador.”

Ian McMillin, Managing Director of SAFER “SAFER is delighted to renew our training node agreements with Virtual Marine and use our current partner network as a platform to enter conventional markets and provide effective delivery of internationally recognised lifeboat coxswain and fast rescue boat training and assessment using simulation.”

In addition to initializing and operating the training nodes in Aberdeen and Doha, SAFER is also Virtual Marine's Market Representative (MR) in eleven countries. Virtual Marine currently has four training centres or nodes worldwide, located in Aberdeen (Scotland), Doha (Qatar), Broussard (Louisiana, USA) and Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada).

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Contacts:

Clayton Burry, VP Sales, Virtual Marine

clayton.burry@virtualmarine.ca

Ian McMillin, Managing Director, SAFER

ian.mcmillin@safer-training.com