• The initiative was developed through an alliance between Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) and Desafío Levantemos Chile.
• The port room includes simulators and complete furnishings to enhance student learning.

May 23, 2023. This Tuesday Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) together with Desafío Levantemos Chile inaugurated the port operations room at the South Pacific Maritime Commercial Institute (Instituto Comercial Marítimo Pacífico Sur or INCO) in San Antonio, which will serve to enhance students’ technical specialization and bring the port closer to the classrooms.

The initiative will directly benefit the 215 INCO students studying port operations and logistics, and indirectly benefit the more than 900 students at the school. The remodeling of the high-tech port operations room includes: virtual reality simulators of three cranes: forklift, STS (ship-to-shore) and RTG (rubber tyre gantry), in addition to complete furnishings (projector, whiteboard, screen and lockers).

In this regard, the school’s director, Hernán Carvajal, said that “inaugurating this new port room gives the students a vision of the future and tools for their personal and professional development, but also for the future of San Antonio, and that is very important. This is a truly extraordinary contribution.”

The alliance between CSAV and Desafío Levantemos Chile seeks to provide a solution to the lack of infrastructure and technological equipment at the institute. For this reason, the remodeling of the space focuses mainly on enhancing specialization in the maritime sector, providing students with the best technology for developing their practical skills and greater professionalization.

The CFO of Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores, Roberto Larraín, who led the ribbon-cutting ceremony, pointed out that “the district of San Antonio now has 4 professional technical high schools, and only INCO has the specialties of port operations and logistics, so we decided to concentrate our efforts on these students, who are being trained annually in an area that is directly related to our industry. We are confident that, with these tools and the appropriate spaces to enhance their training, these young people will be able to perform successfully in the world of work.”

The mayor of San Antonio, who also participated in the activity, commented that “we trust in San Antonio, and especially in our youth and children. That is why we will insist on providing tools to strengthen their education. We believe that the San Antonio of the future is built through young people that can choose the best path for their development, with ample possibilities. That is why we value the technology that will be implemented in this room, which we are making available today to the INCO community.

In turn, the Education Director of Desafío Levantemos Chile, Marcela Gutiérrez, remarked that “this initiative is in addition to all the work carried out by the foundation’s Education area, in order to contribute and maximize educational development throughout the country. Infrastructure is an essential element so that children can develop their full potential. Therefore, the contribution made by CSAV is a tremendous help for the young people of this institute who are pursuing the specialty of port operation, and thus have greater opportunities in the future.”

The forklift crane simulator emulates a typical job inside logistics warehouse yards where containers are moved from one point to another. The STS (ship-to-shore) simulator allows you to experience first-hand how containerized cargo is moved from ship to shore and vice versa. Meanwhile, the RTG (rubber tyre gantry) crane allows students to practice moving stacked containers within the port. These simulators will provide students with a unique opportunity to train and enhance new skills through hands-on virtual reality exercises. The software programs have different levels of difficulty to develop and improve cargo handling and moving skills and to understand the logic that is experienced on a daily basis in ports and warehouses.

With an investment of more than 100 million Chilean pesos, the port operation room and the forklift, STS and RTG simulators will be tools for developing new skills and bringing a real port closer to the classroom.