Page 39 - CHIRP annual digest 2016.pdf

CHIRPAnnual Digest 2016

Increasingly, chart supply companies offer proprietary in the infallibility of information on screens, especially
Back of Bridge Passage Planners to plan routes, and on bridges equipped with more automated information
manage chart orders to cover these. The Appraisal, than ever before. This would be a grave mistake. On the
Planning, Execution, Monitoring (APEM) model (IMO other hand, younger practitioners can help older ones
Resolution A.893(21)), guidance on use of ECDIS to learn and trust the new systems.
(NP232) which adds a specific Review step to give
A fundamental principle of all aspects of navigation has
APEM, and NP231 (electronic navigational charts –
ENC) are essential reading. The appraisal phase should always been the double-check; an inalienable instinct
to question and to use all sources of information
ensure that both the Planning Station and the ECDIS
are updated to the latest catalogue provided by the available. Does the depth tie in with the chart, and with
the ECDIS position, and with radar information and with
chart supplier, while ensuring that the latest ENC
updates are available. the ship’s estimated position, for example? If the
answer is yes, all is likely to be well; if not, something is
For such a change to charting as identified in this case, likely to be wrong. Always clarify what that ‘something’
UKHO Notice to Mariners (NtM) would inform users is, slowing down, stopping or re-checking as appro -
that the GB cells covering the Suez Canal were being priate.
cancelled and that they were to be replaced with
Finally we must in 2016 confront the cyber threat; by
Egyptian cells. This gives the mariner the advanced no means is the maritime environment exempt. GPS
notice needed to remove superseded cells from ECDIS,
signals can be corrupted, and ECDIS systems can be
and to order the necessary replacements when required subjected to attack. This puts a double premium on the
for planning. Thus taut configuration control can be
double-check.
maintained. Less obvious to the modern ECDIS naviga -
-tor might be the requirement for all transiting vessels See an article by Andy Norris in Digital Ship that
to carry Egyptian issued paper charts for the Suez develops this topic: http://www.thedigitalship.com/
Canal, even if they are a fully digital navigation plat - com.
form. Assessing all information here would include
reading the latest SCA navigation circulars, where this No one wants to run his ship aground through the
information would be available, as well as NtM Section unseen insertion of malware, when a second glance out
VIII for withdrawn and cancelled ENCs. of the window would have put him right.

Active navigation, including pilotage. Many of the CHIRP Suggests
comments on ‘passage planning’ apply. It is well known Training, familiarisation and practice are crucial. Take
that too small a chart scale may conceal crucial time to read and understand instructions and advice (see
information including shoal depths and routing infor - some of the sources listed above). Know your equip -
mation. Both visual and radar fixes can be plotted on ment. ECDIS displays don’t necessarily have to have a GPS
ECDIS charts in ways analogous to the paper method, input; they can be used exactly as paper charts have been,
and as quickly; but only – as in everything – with if necessary. The principles of safe navigation haven’t
practice. It is essential – when conditions are benign – changed; just the means by which some of our infor -
to practise the old skills as applicable to ECDIS. One day mation is displayed. Don’t trust automated displays,
they will be needed, almost invariably in testing without a healthy instinct to cross- check. Remember
circumstances. Finally, use all equipment in the role that the age old, gilt-edged, adage: “use all sources, and
each piece is designed; for example an ECDIS display double check everything”. Keep on top of your con -
with an AIS overlay is not designed for collision figuration control.
avoidance. The above article was published in MFB44

The old and the new. Many of today’s potential
electronic errors are just the current versions of the Article. 32
ones we knew with paper charts. For example, the You Won’t Nab this Pilot
correctly scaled and corrected charts were always When the pilot boarded the 200 metres long crude oil
crucial. Nowadays a generation of navigators used to carrier, which was inward bound into the Eastern Solent
Google maps may be tempted to unquestioning belief waters, he was more than a little surprised that the

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