This study was conducted by the Maritime Simulation and Resource Centre (MSRC) and served to supplement a simulation study and its associated report dated 17 August 2017.

This manned analysis was conducted in collaboration with Corporation des pilotes du Saint-Laurent Central (CPSLC) pilots and the primary objectives were to:

• Evaluate the maneuverability of design ship in different predefined environmental conditions and with tug assistance;
• Assess tug requirements (i.e., power, type, number and working methods of tugs) to ensure safe vessel movements;
• Confirm that the proposed dredging area provided safe ingress and egress of the ship between the berth pocket and the navigational channel;
• Determine the overall level of safety of ship manoeuvres at the future terminal and to recommend any operational limitations or risk mitigation mechanisms that may need to be implemented.

The study was conducted on the Kongsberg’s built Full Mission Simulator, Class A and DNV approved. It consists of a fully integrated bridge with modern instruments and an uninterrupted field of vision of 360°. All simulated tug manoeuvring was conducted using three integrated tugboat simulators that were manned by tug masters from the Quebec region.

MSRC’s own in-house database development team was used to create a high-fidelity 3D geographical area model of the new terminal area and the adjoining portion of the St-Lawrence for several kilometers downriver and upriver from the site. It included all aspects of the channel bathymetry and relevant shore-side structures.

Also built by MSRC’s in-house specialists, the primary vessel used for this study was a model of a 300 meter-LOA, single screw container vessel equipped with a bow thruster. This vessel is somewhat conceptual in that it had beam width (44m) and draught conditions (11.0m), which reflect the maximum size permit for transits of the St-Lawrence River.