Viking Cruises chooses VSTEP as their maritime simulation partner

VSTEP has announced that Viking Cruises has chosen to facilitate their professionals with VSTEP’s state-of-the-art and CESNI compliant simulation products. With this partnership, Viking Cruises enables learning by simulation at a large scale for all their sailing professionals.

Viking Cruises is facing, like many other inland shipping companies, a shortage in personnel. By investing in their own simulation solutions, they gain control over their learning paths and reaching their training objectives. The partnership with VSTEP facilitates access for Viking Cruises to the latest innovations in the market and to maritime simulators that are realistic for what their professionals would experience on the job.  

To familiarize themselves with VSTEP’s products, Viking Cruises leased VSTEP’s portable simulator for a period. This successful trial resulted in the start of a close partnership. VSTEP will supply two NAUTIS Full Mission Simulators and four NAUTIS Desktop Simulators. These simulators will be installed on one of their inland vessels to facilitate more efficient training at a larger scale, getting ready for the future.

“This new partnership with Viking Cruises, one of the largest river cruise liners of the world with a fleet of over 75 vessels, is a next step to strengthen our position in the European market for inland training.” – comments Tije Vos, VSTEP’s Commercial Director. “After a successful 2021 with onboarding all Dutch schools with our CESNI compliant solutions, this is a huge step for the industry to use simulation and invest further in the learning of their crew.”

The Inland domain is one of VSTEP’s focus areas. The company invested with multiple stakeholders in the Inland education domain, like Dutch schools such as Maritime Academy Harlingen, STC, NOVA College and ROC Friese Poort, to incorporate simulation-based training to enhance the skills of the professionals. This resulted in CESNI regulations on which VSTEP bases the development of their NAUTIS CESNI compliant maritime simulators.  

VSTEP is a leading developer of ship simulators and virtual training software company based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. They enable marine and safety professionals to learn and train by simulation in an efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable way to work towards a safer world. With 20+ years of experience and a strong client base all over the world, VSTEP wants to enable learning by simulation on a large scale.  They do this by offering a strong NAUTIS product portfolio covering the full learning and training cycle of a maritime professional.

Founded in 1997, Viking Cruises will mark its 25th anniversary this year in which they have positioned themselves as one of the largest ocean and river cruise liners in the world. With a fleet of over 75 inland vessels, they show the world’s best by river. Viking Cruises provides destination-focused itineraries for a culturally immersive experience along the rivers and oceans of many continents.