The exhibition enables visitors to simulate captaining a sailing vessel. Photo: Maritime Museum

Fancy a spin? Hong Kong museum debuts HK$4.7 million ship bridge simulator

Maritime Museum hopes exhibition boosts appreciation of local seafaring

Published: 5:22pm, 28 Apr 2016

A new installation at a local museum aims to wow attendees of all ages as curators hope it helps Hongkongers reminisce about the city’s rich and largely forgotten maritime history.

Unveiling to the public on Friday, the KM Koo Ship Bridge simulator allows visitors to the Maritime Museum to get their hands on the panels of a control room as sophisticated as those used in actual professional training.

Developed in tandem with Dalian Maritime University, the HK$4.7 million installation lets visitors captain a high-speed boat, a container barge or even the iconic Star Ferry.

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Dominique Bouchard, head of the museum’s education and community branch, said response had been overwhelming since the exhibition’s soft launch in February, with more than 2,000 visitors to date catching a glimpse of it.

For now, public visitors can only attend one of four 30-minute sessions on Saturday or Sunday, with each session accommodating 15 people at most.

Asked if the sessions would keep up with demand, Bouchard said the museum would gauge response and consider adding more sessions.

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The tour is included with the museum’s admission fee, but groups making advanced bookings for weekday visits could enter the museum free of charge.

Around a dozen students from the Maritime Services Training Institute are to turn up on a regular basis to help visitors navigate their virtual journey.

One student, Michael Fung Ho-fong, said he felt the need to engage the local community and promote the industry.

The 25-year-old said young people today were not keen to become seafarers. But he felt there was more to learn in seamanship than in other jobs in Hong Kong, which he said were mostly related to retail and finance.

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