Marine Operations
The advantages of navigating with ECDIS and best practices to counter the inherent limitations INTRODUCTION A nautical chart is one of the most fundamental tools available to the mariner. It is a map that depicts the configuration of the shoreline and seafloor. It provides water depths, locations of dangers to navigation, locations and characteristics of aids to navigation, anchorages, and other features. By Captain Prashant Kumar The nautical chart is essential for safe navigation. Mariners use charts to plan voyages and navigate ships safely and economically. Ships have long been required to carry nautical charts and nautical publications to plan and display the ship's route for the intended voyage and to plot and monitor positions throughout the voyage. The advent of electronic charts in the 1990s provided ships with additional information, including real time information which could be displayed on screens on Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS). ECDIS carriage became mandatory on January 2011 through SOLAS regulation V/19 which requires newly built cargo ships of 3,000 gross tonnage and upwards engaged on international voyages to be fitted with ECDIS. The undeniable safety benefits of navigating with ECDIS were recognized through Formal Safety Assessments submitted to the Organization and experience gained by the voluntary use of ECDIS for many years. ECDIS is a complex, safety-relevant, software-based system with multiple options for display and integration. The ongoing safe and effective use of ECDIS involves many stakeholders including seafarers, equipment manufacturers, chart producers, hardware and software maintenance providers, ship owners and operators, and training providers. It is important that all these stakeholders have a clear and common understanding of their roles and responsibilities in relation to ECDIS. DISCUSSION & RECOMMENDATIONS Like with any new system, ECDIS has its fair share of positives and negatives. However, with the passage of time and evolution of the system, ECDIS has been accepted across the board as a reliable and, in many ways, a better alternative to the old system of paper charts.
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Issue 77-September 2021
The installation of ECDIS allowed for the digitalization and integration of several procedures i.e. the introduction of an electronic passage plan and overlaying of weather data and forecasts. This type of integration eliminates cumbersome and repetitive administrative tasks, reduces fatigue of the OOW and ultimately enhances safety of navigation. While appreciating the improvements and advantages, an attempt is made here to simultaneously examine practical workarounds on the more pressing challenges thrown at us by ECDIS. ECDIS has brought in a sort of revolution in the task of position fixing and monitoring. The OOW does not have to constantly move between the chart room and wheel house to carry out position fixing and route monitoring/collision avoidance. The unified template of ECDIS, integrated as part of the larger Integrated Bridge System consoles, helps the watchkeeper to maintain orientation to the outward direction while being provided with the luxury of continuous real time position fixing. Flexibility in chart availability and chart correction increasingly becoming real time has resulted in significant cost savings in the long run, especially with respect to logistical challenges in arranging paper charts delivery and subsequent notices for correction. Digitalization and connectivity has led to a reduced carbon footprint by avoiding deviations and saving valuable resources through elimination of paper use. With Radar overlay juxtaposed with continuous feed from critical instruments, the ECDIS screen is now a single window into the actions of Collision avoidance, Anti grounding, Look ahead and position fixing. However, in this single window concept lies a hidden risk of the OOW getting too comfortable with the system and neglecting the prime objective of lookout by visual means which should be consciously and regularly practised as the first source of information for decision making.
