Institute of Ship Operation, Sea Transport and Simulation (ISSUS)

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The Institute of Ship Operation, Sea Transport and Simulation (ISSUS) is a research and training facility of Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. ISSUS investigates complex shipping problems extending over various specialist fields. For example, the topics range from classical navigation, through subjects from the areas of maritime traffic technology, logistics or telematics, right up to questions of integrated ship management. In view of the increasing requirements, the growing use of technology and the competitive pressure in maritime shipping, the human being and his working environment are a suitable starting point for scientific investigations. With regard to training, ISSUS is the successor of the former department of Maritime Studies and as such offers an integrated training scheme leading to a diploma in ship operation. The training scheme, which is unique in Germany, qualifies the studentsfor both the nautical and technical ship officer licenses. World-wide interdisciplinary cooperation with scientific and technical institutions is one of the prerequisites for successful project work. Many topical questions relating to maritime shipping are being discussed today at European level and research projects are being commissioned by Brussels. Against this background, ISSUS is strongly European in its nature. Research and development at ISSUS are dialog-oriented: cooperation with shipping practice and with maritime industry, as well as exchanges with political decision makers form part of this dialog. ISSUS operates the Ship-Handling and Simulation System SUSAN and the Collision Avoidance and Navigation Radar Simulator CONRAD. With these two facilities both under one roof, ISSUS also acts as a simulation centre of a special kind. Here, future mariners who have not yet finished their courses of study are confronted with situations derived from practice. Whether berthing manoeuvres with a large tanker or travelling on a narrow waterway in stormy weather, there is hardly any type of ship or of ship-handling activity that SUSAN cannot simulate. These wide-ranging possibilities also make the simulator an attractive continuation training centre for masters, ship's officers and pilots, as well as for employees of traffic control centres run by waterway and shipping authorities. With the radar trainer CONRAD, it is additionally possible to simulate ship-handling in fog. SUSAN and CONRAD make it possible to investigate operational and equipment-related situations bordering on the extreme without any actual risk. Specifically, in harbour planning, waterway construction and traffic control, simulation can make an important preliminary contribution towards achieving a good cost/benefit ratio. Furthermore, the simulator is suitable for realistic trials of nautical equipment.

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