VSTEP

NAUTIS Home continues to grow with a new update 🎉

From operating a towboat with barges to navigating a familiar route with current, this release gives users more opportunities to experience more varied vessel handling.

In this update you will find:
✅ Sergeant Toby: A river towboat that can be operated independently or with barges. The two available variations let users experience how changes in length and weight affect vessel response.
✅ Flanking rudders: With main rudders behind the propellers and smaller flanking rudders positioned in front, Sergeant Toby introduces a different control setup during reversing manoeuvres.
✅ New Orleans: A new location along the Mississippi River, adding another inland navigation context to NAUTIS Home.
✅ Rhine Gorge with current: A familiar route now shaped by added current. Users must account for it and adapt their handling throughout the passage.

We are excited to develop NAUTIS Home so that each addition helps provide more realistic simulation training for desktop practice.

Release notes: https://f.mtr.cool/blfqgswkik
Updated development roadmap: https://f.mtr.cool/pennpdeiig

Last Thursday, we swapped our desks for the deck of the Zeefakkel to join Zeekadetkorps Nederland’s jubilee celebrations. 🚢

The jubilee brought together 15 ships and 350 Sea Cadets from the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. On the water, the cadets showed the skills, teamwork, and confidence they build through their time with the organisation.

Earlier this year, VSTEP made NAUTIS Home available to all 19 Dutch Sea Cadet Corps. It gives cadets more chances to practise navigation, vessel handling, and decision-making through simulation, alongside their time on board.

Together, simulation and real experience give them more ways to learn, try things out, and see where the maritime world could take them.

Congratulations to everyone at Zeekadetkorps Nederland and thank you for welcoming us aboard.

An ambitious, inventive spirit has shaped VSTEP from the start. It shows in the way we work: hands-on, curious and always looking for better ways to help maritime professionals learn through simulation.

Today, Pindustry is coming on board as VSTEP’s new majority shareholder. Its strategic experience and support will help us unlock more of VSTEP’s potential and take our growth further. Our leadership team remains invested and at the helm, carrying forward the culture and ambition that brought us here.

Our customers remain our most important point of reference. Across maritime learning organisations, fleet operators, port authorities, navies and coast guards, their operational needs and ambitions continue to inspire our work and guide where we focus our innovation.

With Pindustry alongside us, we will turn more ideas into solutions that help our customers train more effectively and get more from their simulation environments.

Read the full announcement: https://f.mtr.cool/umuyisighf

Behind every VSTEP simulator is an international team bringing different perspectives to one shared goal: enabling learning by simulation.

That was the story we shared today with Alderman and Deputy Mayor of Rotterdam Tim Versnel. He will lead Rotterdam’s trade mission to SMM Hamburg and visited VSTEP as part of the preparations. CEO Fabian van den Berg showed him how our technology, maritime expertise and international team come together. 🤝

Tim’s visit set the tone for the conversations ahead in Hamburg. On 31 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭, Tije Vos will join Mare Forum Germany’s “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫: 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞” session to share how simulation supports the next generation of maritime professionals. 🎤

From 1-4 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, that conversation moves from the stage to 𝐒𝐌𝐌 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 B6.110, where Alexios Limnios and the VSTEP team will show how the NAUTIS ecosystem puts it into practice. 🚢

The Calgary Branch of the Navy League of Canada is expanding its NAUTIS environment library! 🚢

Already using VSTEP and the 𝐍𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐒 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦, the Calgary Branch is adding new environment content to support a wider range of simulation-based learning exercises.

For instructors, a broader library creates more room to shape training around specific learning objectives. For learners, it means more opportunities to practise decision-making, communication, coordination, and situational awareness across different situations.

This is one of the ways a simulator ecosystem supports progress over time. As learning needs evolve, content can evolve with them, keeping practice connected to the skills and situations that matter most. It is this ongoing dedication to evolve that keeps narrowing the distance between what The Calgary Branch of the Navy League of Canada learn and what they will face out at sea.

Thank you to Don Figol and the team at the Calgary Branch of the Navy League of Canada for continuing to develop with VSTEP.

How can crews build familiarity with a specialised vessel before facing demanding conditions at sea?

Nederlands Loodswezen is strengthening this preparation through a NAUTIS Pilot Boat Simulator in a Full Mission Bridge configuration, supported by a NAUTIS Instructor Station.

Working closely with VSTEP, the organization shaped a learning environment around its pilot transfer operations. The simulator reflecting its vessel controls and working routines, while instructors can repeat demanding exercises and review the decisions crews make to strengthen their professional training.

Our latest article looks at how the new M-class vessels were represented and why long-term support formed an essential part of the partnership.

Discover how here:

Dutch Pilotage Service Organization strengthens pilot transfer readiness through simulation - VSTEP B.V. Discover how the Dutch Pilotage Service Organization used a custom NAUTIS boat simulator for crew readiness and pilot transfer training.

𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘃𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗷𝗻- 𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘃𝗮𝗮𝗿𝘁 🤝

Last week, we visited Fonds voor de Rijn- en Binnenscheepvaart, at their training centre in Antwerp where they deliver several forms of inland navigation training.

Their dedication to training students and preparing them for real operations was clear, as always. The commitment of their team naturally showing itself as Adri van der Hoeven talked one of our colleagues through basic ship handling during a demonstration of what a typical exam consists of.

As Adri van der Hoeven explained, “During the exercises, handling the simulator feels very similar to handling a real vessel.” A strong reflection of how closely the training experience mirrors the reality students will encounter on board.

Thank you, Marc Cortebeeck and Adri van der Hoeven, for such a warm welcome.

A strong simulator setup should keep moving with the people who use it 🎯

We are excited to announce that Firda Maritieme Campus Urk will be upgrading there 𝐍𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫. The hardware behind their 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 and three 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 will be completely refreshed. together with a new five years of maintenance and support to keep their Simulator in top condition.

For us, this is what “designed to evolve” looks like in practice by allowing our customer to upgrade specific components, extending value while avoiding full replacement cost. Firda Maritieme Campus Urk's decision to keep investing in the training solutions clearly demonstrates their continued commitment to provide the best maritime education to their students.

We wish the team every success with the upgraded setup and looking forward having them onboard for the coming years.

On the Day of the Seafarer, we recognise the people who keep global trade moving! 🚢

This year’s IMO theme, “Carrying world trade. Carrying the risks.”, is a powerful reminder that seafarers carry responsibility as well as cargo.

At VSTEP, our mission is to enable maritime learning through simulation. Through that work, we hope to contribute to training that helps seafarers prepare more safely for the realities they may face.

To all seafarers: thank you for your skill, commitment, and resilience.