Page 32 - CHIRP Annual Digest 2017

CHIRP Maritime

stopped his boat, ending up just 10 metres from the pass- The Collision Regulations specify the minimum visibility of
ing cargo ship. The fisherman contacted the nearest local navigation lights. However, the impact of other bright lights
Italian coastguard station shortly afterwards to report the simply obscuring the navigation lights, (as was the case when
near miss, and he was told that an investigation would be the vessel was 1 mile ahead), or being positively misleading
conducted upon his return to port the following day. (as was the case initially when the only coloured lights I could
see were green), is not appreciated. Vessels should ensure
It’s really shocking to still hear such conversations on VHF. In that their navigation lights are bright enough to be seen
this case the lack of a proper lookout could have resulted in a against the background of all their other lights, and avoid
collision – the actions of the fishing boat skipper prevented it. using coloured deck lights where this can cause confusion.
What the Third Party told us: Very bright deck working lights obscuring navigation lights
CHIRP wrote to the ISM Managers of the vessel but they are often an issue on fishing boats as well.
declined to respond.
CHIRP Comment
CHIRP Comment The Maritime Advisory Board highlighted that navigation light
The Maritime Advisory Board commented that with the excep- visibility – irrespective of other lighting – must comply with
tion that the use of VHF should not be used for collision avoid- COLREGS Annex 1. In addition, they queried why classification
ance, the fishing vessel’s actions were appropriate when rais- societies permit these designs where visibility is obscured.
ing awareness of the risk of collision. Additionally, whilst it is Technology exists whereby deck lighting may be adequately
pleasing that the Italian coastguard undertook to follow up, it shaded – permitting safe movement on board yet not obscur-
is disappointing that the Company in question did not respond, ing regulatory lights. The quality of light bulbs used is another
indicating a poor company management safety culture. possible consideration. Take LED for example – are approved
suppliers holding the introduction of these back due to a lack
The above article was published in MFB49 of any requirement in COLREGS?

Article. 23 The above article was published in MFB49
Navigation lights – can you Article. 24
see them? Advisory Board Insight: Issues

with ECDIS
OUTLINE: An encounter between a yacht and a large pas-
senger vessel, where navigation lights were difficult to dis-
tinguish amongst other deck lights. CHIRP received a report from a pilot detailing concerns over
the use of ECDIS.
What the Reporter told us:
My yacht was sailing cross channel in a southerly direction. “With ECDIS becoming mandatory, I have serious concerns
I saw the lights of another vessel off my starboard bow. At that there will be significant issues with safety of navigation.
some distance, I made out what I thought was a green light During a recent pilotage, a positional discrepancy was noted
and believed that the other vessel was a cross channel between the ECDIS, the position identified by radar and that
ferry heading north, well clear of my vessel. As we closed, it by visual observations.”
became clear that what I had thought was a green light was
in fact blue, but another green light became visible, so I con- Prior to departure, the accuracy of the ECDIS position had
tinued to believe this was a ferry heading north and clear of been confirmed. The vessel was outbound, and the information
my vessel. However, the relative tracks didn’t seem to make was being reported in “real time” directly from the ECDIS, (i.e.
sense if I was seeing a starboard navigation light. Eventually, not historical from a position marked upon a chart and then
the vessel crossed my track about a mile ahead – it was a reported). The OOW reported a position, which was 0.5 - 0.7 of
cruise liner going from west to east. I should, therefore, have a cable astern of the vessel’s actual position.
been able to see the port navigation light but, even with
hindsight, I could not convince myself there was a red light Pilots in this port can use a PPU, (Portable Piloting Unit), to
in amongst the multitude of other lights visible on the cruise compare the error between the vessel’s actual position and
liner. This is a common issue with cruise liners – and this that being displayed on ECDIS which in this case, had no
one is no worse than some others. radar overlay. It was determined that the ECDIS display gave
more range to a target ahead than that observed by radar.
On this occasion, there was no harm as the other vessel
was a safe distance ahead and we were the stand-on vessel. As pilot, my biggest concern was to prove the error to all the
However, because we only saw what seemed to be a green officers including the Master. It went a bit like, “Captain what
navigation light and, therefore, misinterpreted the situation, is the relative bearing to ‘A’ Beacon?” He gave his answer and
had my vessel been under power, we would not have known I followed up with, “No Captain it is abeam on the port side –
that we were the give way vessel until very much closer, Please look out of the window.” It was at this point he realised
and then only because the track wasn’t making sense, not that there was an issue. In my opinion, the Captain believed
because we identified the red port navigation light. that the ECDIS could not be wrong…

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