The courses are given by extremely experienced instructors, all of whom are former maritime pilots. The ships are precisely reproduced to a 1:25 scale and are equipped with indicators giving rudder angle, engine speed, ship speed, wind speed, etc. Most of the ships are equipped with bow and stern thrusters and with perfectly operational anchors. They behave like real ships. The lake is fitted with wave, wind and current generators and complex port approach configurations.

Two tugs were purchased in 1999. One of them is fitted with Voith Schneider propulsion and the other with a Z-peller system. One more tug is operational since 2007, it features Voith Schneider's Turbo Fin. The tugs are controlled at the pilot’s orders by a tug master via a remote-control system.

40 years' experience have shown that students quickly learn how to control the models just as they do the real ships that they are used to manoeuvring.