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fl agged in over 130 countries. The Russian-owned company’s roots come from naviga- tors and sea-going offi cers and engineers. “They created a company for mariners, by mariners, and we’ve never lost that spirit. We understand the needs of our customers be- cause we have been there ourselves,” said Toma, himself a Kings Point graduate. Transas maintains that connection through “continuous communication and feedback with the customer base,” as well by monitoring the rules and regulations by participating in various industry technical standards committees and organizations. “We were the fi rst to come out with an ECDIS IMO-approved system,” he noted, adding that Transas has a separate division that “does nothing but think fi ve- to-10 years ahead of where we are now.” The Transas graphical user interface is simple and in- tuitive. ‘There is a lot going in in the inland waterway, moving in both directions, amid demands to keep moving cargo as quickly as possible, and with that, the training needs to increase as well.” Another Transas advantage are its model tools: Model Wizard, which lets users to create their own practice areas, and Virtual Shipyard, which let users “manufacture” a ves- sel to spec. These tools have been used to model changes on the Ohio River in a study. For example, what would the environmental impact be if a lock was built here? As the cost of simulation systems has dropped, the interest from the cost-conscious tug and work boat sectors has risen. Brown water companies are also using simulation for in- house training on unique or proprietary aspects of their operations or equipment. HELM OPERATIONS The dispatching and billing woes of paper-bound, email-oriented log towing companies led a forestry worker to launch Helm Operations and it fi rst application, Tug Assist, an early iteration of Helm’s well-known Marine Operations system software. Tug Assist tackled jobs dis- patching, tug utilization rates, inventory tracking and billing turnaround times. Over time that morphed into Helm’s popular Marine Operations data base-oriented ap- plication, which features fi ve shore-side modules and one MN 00 SOFTWARE Feature Pilot Trainees are setting up their southbound approach to Smithland Lock on the Ohio River. 46 MN August 2014 32-49 MN Aug14.indd 46 7/18/2014 1:37:02 PM
