20 December 2010
The conference, held in London on 24th-25th November was well attended, with a good cross-section of ship operators, pilots and other mariners, ECDIS manufacturers and ENC providers.
The event was chaired by Philip Wake, Chief Executive of the Nautical Institute. Following a keynote presentation from the Deputy Master of Trinity House, Alasdair Ireland of V Ships set the scene from a ship manager’s point of view, then Forkanul Quader of the MCA gave an overview of ECDIS requirements.
Dr Andy Norris advocated developing an “ECDIS mindset”, recognising the fundamental difference of approach needed when navigating with ECDIS and raising the need for
familiarisation training. Saurabh Sachdeva representing the Chamber of Shipping emphasised the high cost of training for the ship-owner and expressed concerns regarding
the carriage requirement.
The view from the Deep Sea Pilot was expressed by Captain Kevin Vallance, who said that he had deliberately not undertaken training on ECDIS, pending availability of a suitable course. Presentations from Selex Communications and Idarat Marine raised awareness about general problems of information security and combating piracy, then Huw Davies of ESRI discussed Exploiting the Geospatial Intelligence of the Maritime Sector.
Jim Buck described the Royal Navy’s progress towards totally paperless navigation and Allan Graveson of Nautilus discussed how lack of training and poor data quality has led to ECDIS being implicated in safety incidents, expressing very strong criticism for the standards in the shipping industry. The first day ended with a presentation by Captain Martin Harper of MAIB asking whether over-reliance on ECDIS was likely to become a contributing factor to accidents at sea. The answer appeared to be “yes” based on examples quoted by many speakers, such as LT Cortesia, CFL Performer and Pride of Canterbury.
The keynote presentation on the second day was from GLA R&RNAV on “Radio navigation – the vulnerabilities”. This set out the reasons for and causes of disruption to GNSS and the possible solutions: hardening GNSS, enhanced radar and visual AtoNs, non-radio systems and eLoran. The findings of the eLoran Business Case were outlined and the conclusion drawn that it was the only alternative available within the timescales required for ECDIS and e-Navigation. There was general acceptance of the argument, with some questions about the feasibility of implementing eLoran worldwide, although a few contended that the existing provisions in the ECDIS standards for backup with visual and radar bearings was sufficient.
Chart licences were discussed by the UKHO Head of Products and Capt Harry Gale, Technical Manager of the Nautical Institute spoke on the operational requirements needed to make the transition from using paper charts.
The views of the ship-owner were given by Captain David Elliot of Arklow Shipping, expressing the need to review the company’s safety management system and the necessity of liaising with shoreside stakeholders, such as charterers, insurers and classification societies. The Flag State view was presented by Captain Rick Kramer of the IOM Ship Registry, who discussed the type approval certification and changing requirements of flag states. Finally Captain Justin Lawes considered ECDIS and the law: what are the legal consequences of ECDIS requirements and implementation.
A number of useful points came out of the discussions, such as the possible need to standardise ECDIS update procedures and the danger of plug-in pilot equipment upsetting ECDIS. Concerns were expressed about the use of non type-approved equipment by pilots, even with approved ENCs. The need for better training was a recurrent theme, for example in the use of ECDIS with radar, recognition of symbols and familiarity with different types of ECDIS. It was agreed that generic training must be followed by onboard type-specific training.
It was noted that the pilot should be part of the bridge team, but in practice there was a tendency to hand over to the pilot and a reluctance to plan the passage beyond the pilot station. It was strongly stated by some participants that no plug-in equipment should be allowed, that the Master retains overriding authority and that an approved passage plan should be provided to the pilot.
It was suggested that adoption of ECDIS should lead to reduced insurance premiums, but this had not been experienced. However, there were savings in chart corrections and also efficiency benefits from ECDIS, particularly with passage planning and weather routing. There were mixed views on the desirability of S Mode – the default, simple configuration advocated by the NI. Flexible licensing of ENCs was promoted by the suppliers, with the full catalogue carried onboard, but only the required areas unlocked, for limited periods, upon payment.
Methods of providing corrections were discussed and it was noted that provision of broadband communications on board ship was increasing, with one speaker quoting a third already fitted and another third considering it. There were several different providers in addition to Inmarsat.
Concerns were expressed by several speakers about over-reliance on technology, in particular GPS. The GLA presentation on this subject, considering potential solutions was
well-received, although some participants considered that present arrangements for alternative position inputs (visual and radar) were adequate.
