This paper presents a short-term time-domain algorithm for ship motion simulation. Plane motion is considered, thus a three degrees of freedom model can be used. The main inputs of the model are: propellers speed, rudder angles and initial conditions (in terms of initial position/orientation and linear/rotational velocity). The outputs are final ship position and orientation after a given simulation time. The huge amount of data available in the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) and the results of sea trials performed before the ship delivery can be used to estimate the needed parameters, implementing a simple but reliable linear regression scheme. As a case study, the proposed model was applied to Costa Concordia manoeuvring simulation in order to asses its reliability in terms of trajectory prediction. Finally, as an example of application, the simulator was implemented in a real time manoeuvring predictor, which is capable of foreseeing the ship position up to 40 s ahead in time, supporting the Commander in emergency operations.