ECDIS Facilitating the use of ECDIS By Steen Nielsen and Ole Berg A s a measure of its perceived importance, in order to facilitate the use of Electronic Chart Display systems (ECDIS) in shipping, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Norway and Sweden have taken an unprecedented step and decided to reduce the recommended retail price of their Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) by 70% In March 2001, the Baltic Carrier and Tern collided in Kadetrenden between Denmark and Germany causing an oil spill of 2,700 tonnes of heavy fuel An extraordinary meeting of Ministers of Transport and the Environment from the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea was convened in Copenhagen and a declaration was adopted containing a large number of measures to improve the safety of navigation in the Baltic Sea and to increase response capacity to accidents This was the Copenhagen Declaration (see Note at the end of the article) Due to its unique characteristics, ECDIS was identified as one of the major contributors to increased navigational safety Baltic support The central parts of the Copenhagen Declaration aimed at promoting the use of ECDIS have been transferred to the Helsinki Convention, making the measures binding on governments The revised text of the convention concerning ECDIS is as follows: Regulation 9: Improved hydrographic services and promotion of the use of Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) 1) The Contracting Parties: a) shall develop a scheme for systematic resurveying of major shipping routes and ports in order to ensure that safety of navigation is not endangered by inadequate source information The survey shall be carried out to a standard not inferior to the latest edition of IHO S-44 The scheme shall be elaborated 30 BIMCO BULLETIN · VOLUME 97 · NO · 2002 jointly by the hydrographic services responsible for the areas in question not later than by the end of 2002 with the aim to begin implementation by 2003 b) shall develop Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC): i) for major shipping routes and ports by the end of 2002 Major shipping routes and ports shall be selected on the basis of volumes of dangerous goods and number of passengers; and ii) for secondary shipping routes and ports by the end of 2004 Major shipping routes in the Baltic area 2) The Contracting Parties: a) shall accept Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) as equivalent to paper charts in accordance with Chapter V of SOLAS; b) undertake to enter into negotiations with shippers and recipients in their States, who are involved in transport of goods to and from ports in the Baltic Sea Area, with the aim that the commercial parties (e.g national shippers and receivers) make arrangements to the effect that: i) ships with a draft of 11 metres or ECDIS more, and for the Sound oil tankers with a draft of metres or more, chemical tankers and gas carriers irrespective of size and ships carrying a shipment of INF cargo carry ECDIS; c) shall by the end of the year 2002 as a matter of particular interest ensure that port State control of paper charts is intensified on board ships with a draught of 11 metres or more, and for the Sound oil tankers with a draft of metres or more, chemical tankers and gas carriers irrespective of size and ships carrying a shipment of INF cargo This change to the Helsinki Convention is unique as it is the first internationally binding instrument that mentions: Regular surveys of shipping routes, the development of Electronic Navigational Charts, and the carriage of ECDIS In addition, the above-mentioned actions are introduced with fixed implementation deadlines, a very unusual step that fully underlines the contracting parties’ recognition of the importance of these measures The effect of the measures is that from the end of 2002 full ECDIS navigation will be possible on all major shipping routes and to all major ports in the Baltic Sea From the end of 2004 the same goes for the entire Baltic Sea and the approaches to the Baltic Sea Full ECDIS navigation has been possible in all Danish waters from July 2000 The contracting parties to the Helsinki Convention are Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the European Union Of these countries, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden are, together with France, cooperating with Norway on providing central access to their official ENCs, which are needed for full ECDIS use, i.e paper charts need not be carried if an adequate back-up system for ECDIS is available Without ECDIS - a high stress level on the bridge decision support tool of a kind that has never before been available on the bridge of a ship ECDIS allows for real-time navigation and monitoring of a ship’s position and movements but it is the ability to integrate information from all navigation sensors and particularly Radar, ARPA and AIS into a single comprehensive and easily readable picture that holds the true power of ECDIS On a bridge without ECDIS, the Master has to make all the necessary correlations between the radar image, ARPA targets, fixed and floating aids to navigation depicted on the chart, the navigable part of the water- way, the plotting of positions on the chart and the dead-reckoned and estimated positions allowing for drift induced by wind, etc in his head, supported by drawings and calculations performed on the paper chart In confined and congested waters it is a task that greatly raises the stress level on a ship’s bridge, and these scenarios are loved by all instructors in bridge resource management and exploited to the fullest in their attempts to introduce maximum stress in ship handling simulators ECDIS takes away the stress caused by the need to keep track of all the information necessary to make the ECDIS allows the Master to focus on making the right decisions in a timely and controlled manner The seven countries have also decided that the price of the ENCs must not inhibit the take-up of ECDIS and this is the reason for the 70% reduction in the recommended retail prices (See Note for further information and a list of distributors.) ECDIS - the short version ECDIS is far more than a digital chart, it is a BIMCO BULLETIN · VOLUME 97 · NO · 2002 31 ECDIS appropriate decisions in the head and will allow the Master to focus on making the right decisions in a timely and controlled manner In addition, ECDIS enables automatic updating of chart information, thus relieving navigators of the tedious job of correcting charts on costly overtime and further removes the risk of them making errors in the process It is precisely these characteristics that will help reduce the human error that is the source of most collisions, groundings and near misses at sea Practical experiences In the following accounts it is important to note the distinction between ECDIS, which is a type-approved system, and Electronic Chart Systems, which are not type-approved Ships carrying ECDIS need not carry paper charts A.P Moller Group In December 2001, the A.P Moller Group decided to retrofit 160 vessels with ECDIS following extensive trials conducted by senior navigators with extensive experience of navigation on traditionally equipped bridges Captain Hans Peder Mikkelsen, Marine Department, gives some of the rationale behind the decision taken by A.P Moller Group: “One of the core reasons was the decision support provided by using the ECDIS in all phases of the voyage, from route planning to the end of the voyage Particularly during passage of shallow and trafficked waters, ECDIS significantly reduces the workload of the navigator and enhances the situation awareness on the bridge The system’s unique ability to combine the radar image with the chart image by a single action gives an immediate and constant confirmation of the navigators’ decisions The information about other ships provided by AIS, which will be implemented in accordance with the new SOLAS Chapter V, will most naturally be displayed on the ECDIS display to further increase the knowledge about other ships in the area During ocean passage, the ability to combine forecasts on weather, sea and swell with the planned route allows for on site weather routing quickly and easily resulting in fuel savings The subsequent amendments to the route planning are carried out in a matter of minutes The ECDIS software takes care of checking for dangers to navigation automatically, provided a vector chart is used 32 BIMCO BULLETIN · VOLUME 97 · NO · 2002 In December 2001, the A.P Moller Group decided to retrofit 160 vessels with ECDIS Charts can be updated quickly and accurately saving navigators’ time to making the corrections and avoiding errors in the process Also, NAVTEX messages are automatically scanned for position information and a NAVTEX symbol appears in the referenced position allowing the navigators quick access to safety critical information without having to go through a manual plotting procedure.” The overall conclusion reached by the A.P Moller Group is that ECDIS will increase the safety of navigation significantly Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskab a/s Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskab a/s, which operates large passenger vessels along the Norwegian coast, has chosen to equip all vessels with ECDIS for reasons similar to those of the A.P Moller Group to sail past ports along the route during winter because sea clutter from the confused sea, the swell pattern in the archipelago and clutter from snow completely obscured the radar picture The availability of ECDIS on board has significantly increased the regularity of port visits, especially during the cold season Captain Widding’s advice to operators of passenger ships in the Baltic Sea, which has many similarities with the Norwegian Coast in many areas, is to switch to ECDIS as quickly as possible The Royal Danish Navy In late 2000 the Royal Danish Navy decided to go for a full ECDIS implementation on all ships The ECDIS policy of the navy is in short: This type of navigation is very demanding, especially during the long winter season, because it takes place mainly along the Norwegian coast and in and out of harbours through the archipelagos and the narrow fjords and sounds Full ECDIS implementation Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskab has used Electronic Chart Systems since 1992 and now uses ECDIS The experience gained is a significant increase in the confidence of the bridge team Complicated navigational situations are handled calmly as the ECDIS gives the information required to identify fixed and floating aids to navigation, skerries and small islands and distinguishes such items from other ships on the radar which combined with track steering is still the main navigational tool Ships’ bridges to be remodelled One glance at the ECDIS confirms the ship’s immediate position In the pre-ECDIS days, Captain Harrod Widding, Senior Captain in Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskab, often had All navigation sensors to be fully interfaced via a navigation computer No more paper charts All navigational officers to receive ECDIS training The Navy particularly emphasizes the training aspects, as navigating with ECDIS is seen as a completely new way of navigating “ECDIS cannot be implemented safely if you think you are just performing the same tasks on a screen Then you have not understood what ECDIS really is!”, says Commander Carsten Reiff, a key figure in the Royal Danish Navy’s ECDIS implementation process Another key element is the decision to remodel the bridges during the installation ECDIS process in order to serve two main purposes Firstly, to put the navigator and the ECDIS in the best possible place so that the navigator has a good overview out of the windows, secondly, to emphasize that the change to ECDIS truly involves a new way of navigating and that the ECDIS is not just a new box to be tucked in where room can be found Extensive trials with a number of ECDIS systems leading up to the tendering process gave the following main reasons for the decisions: periods with bad weather and poor visibility especially was highly appreciated by navigators - to such a degree that today navigators almost insist that an Electronic Chart System is carried Director Knut Skaar from Seatrans fully agrees with the experiences and evaluations made by Herodd Widding from Troms Fylkes Damskibsselskab Today Seatrans’ vessels are equipped with various types of Electronic Charts Systems and the company is waiting for final confirmation from the regulatory authorities before type-approved ECDIS are fitted A unique en route management tool Easy to use No paper charts - no time-consuming corrections The aim is to reduce the paper chart carriage as much as possible As an example, the time spent on chart corrections on a chemical tanker on the Europe - South America - Gulf of Mexico - Europe route corresponds to one navigator working full time Real-time information Increased situation awareness/mental surplus Ability to work together with other digital databases The very nature of naval operations with frequent changes of route plans which, especially in Search and Rescue operations, take place in the worst possible weather, calls for the best possible decision support system also on the ship’s bridge ECDIS is exactly the system that the Navy’s navigators have been looking for The Navy also experiences near-misses and groundings as commanding officers drive their ships at high speed through shallow and confined waterways when training crews The Navy expects to see a marked decrease in such incidents following the implementation of ECDIS, which is scheduled for completion in 2003 The requirement to keep all charts fully up to date is being increasingly emphasized, especially by shippers of oil, chemicals etc The shipping line must be able to document that all rules and regulations are observed, including the requirement that all charts carried are corrected and up to date Seatrans has also experienced a significant drop in the accident rate Before Electronic Chart Systems were fitted, Seatrans experienced at least one serious grounding per year Today, groundings are rare, though they occur In one particular case a grounding occurred, fortunately only on a sand bar, because the navigator was only looking at the paper chart, where a sand bar had not been marked with the usual red ink circle Knut Skaar is positive that a single glance at the Electronic Chart System would have shown the danger immediately However, the paper chart was the required basis for navigation, as the system was an Electronic Charts System and not an ECDIS Regulatory status The new Chapter V of SOLAS, which enters into force on July 2002, mentions ECDIS explicitly for the first time Regulation 19 states in paragraphs 1.2.4 and 1.2.5: 1.2.4 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; an Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) may be accepted as meeting the chart carriage requirements of this subparagraph; 1.2.5 back up arrangements to meet the functional requirements of sub-paragraph 4, if this function is partly or fully fulfilled by electronic means;* * An appropriate folio of paper nautical charts may be used as a back-up arrangement for ECDIS Back-up arrangements not inferior to resolution A.817(19), as amended, Recommendation of Performance Standards for Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) are also acceptable In order to make sure that there is no doubt about the status of ECDIS in Denmark, the Danish Maritime Authority will notify Coastal navigation through archipelagos and narrow fjords and sounds can be very demanding Seatrans Seatrans can be counted among ECDIS pioneers, participating in the very first trials with Electronic Chart Systems in the late 1980s Seatrans’ main area of operations are along the Norwegian coast, in the Baltic Sea and European ports, but the route Europe, South America, the Gulf of Mexico and back to Europe is also covered From the first moment that the Electronic Chart System was considered, it proved a very good aid to navigation for experienced navigators in coastal traffic The ability to remove stress and tension during the frequent BIMCO BULLETIN · VOLUME 97 · NO · 2002 33 ECDIS the IMO that Denmark accepts ECDIS as fulfilling the chart carriage requirement under the new SOLAS Chapter V The other signatory states to the Helsinki Convention will take similar steps ECDIS was accepted only as an equivalence under the SOLAS chapter V in force until July 2002 Bearing this in mind, in October 2001 Denmark informed the IMO that ECDIS would be accepted as an equivalence to paper charts on Danish-flagged ships Consequently, full ECDIS navigation has been allowed in Danish waters from that time These actions taken by the Danish Maritime Authority are meant to underline the full support for a rapid introduction of ECDIS in ships operating in and out of the Baltic Sea, but also on a worldwide basis The decision of the Hydrographic Offices to lower the recommended retail prices significantly is a further step to encourage ship owners to invest in ECDIS to the benefit of safety of navigation and also, ultimately, to the benefit of shareholders At E.U level A number of E.U.-funded research projects dealing with various aspects of safety of navigation have identified ECDIS as a system that will have a considerable positive impact on safety of navigation THALASSES Project objective: The assessment of the socio-economic impacts of new technological concepts in maritime transport, on the human element One of the findings of the report is: “However, the electronic chart or ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System) is going to become the most important part of a future INS It is the ideal platform to integrate (again, functionally and operationally) the important navigational sensor information, the hydrographic data, the planning data and additional geographical information to give the user all data on hand he needs for a safe and efficient voyage.” TECHNISECC Project objective: Research and demonstration of conceptual (legal, procedural and organisational) tools and scenarios to be integrated into VTS to provide “value added services” One of the findings of the report is: “Finally the presentation on Automatic Information System (AIS) and on Electronic 34 BIMCO BULLETIN · VOLUME 97 · NO · 2002 Steen Nielsen Ole Berg Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) put an emphasis on the role to be played in a very near future by both those systems, not only on board ships but also on shore In this latter respect it may be expected that coupled with VTS equipment, AIS and ECDIS will considerably improve the quality of the traffic image both at tactical and strategic levels.” to the same deductions as those already made by the shipping companies mentioned above: ECDIS has a significant potential for increasing safety of navigation SAFECO II Project objective: The project objective was to devise improved technologies and organisation for internal/external communication and to demonstrate the application of risk analysis methods to assess economical benefits and safety improvements of the devised solutions for total quality operations One of the findings of the report is: “…The simplified and the advanced model estimates the same effect of a full implementation of Collision Avoidance Advisory Systems (CAAS) housed on ECDIS in relation to powered grounding accidents The probability for powered grounding, given a critical situation is estimated to be reduced with 15% The results from the two models differ significantly with respect to the reduction in the collision probability, given a critical situation The “advanced” model results in a reduction amounting to 10%, while the simplified model results in a reduction amounting to about 20%.” See Note below for the full texts of these reports All in all, these research results clearly lead References to ECDIS are also made in a proposed EU directive following the Erika accident in 1999 In the communication from the Commission to the European Parliament the following is stated: “Construction of the global navigation and positioning infrastructure is now a European Union priority through the GALILEO project This initiative will lead to a reliable and highly accurate service (3 metres on the high seas and metre in port areas), which should serve as a reference for positioning systems applicable to ships in or near Community waters Together with ECDIS, GALILEO offers a unique level of service in contributing to improved conditions of navigability and safety.” See Note below for the full text of this Communication All in all, this points towards an increasing awareness within the E.U system that implementation of ECDIS in ships calling at European ports and transiting European waters is a way of increasing safety of navigation The Erika incident, though caused by a structural fault rather than a navigational error, brought the significant environmental risks inherent in shipping to the notice of the E.U Current activities indicate that this awareness is still present and that efforts are ECDIS being made to avoid events with similar impact on the environment at all costs Hesitate no longer! Any ship operator operating in the Baltic Sea and in the approaches to the Baltic Sea can with confidence start investing in ECDIS All the Helsinki Convention signatories actively support and encourage the use of ECDIS and have committed themselves to provide the ENCs needed for full ECDIS use Substantial practical experience shows that there are numerous positive benefits from the use of ECDIS, most significantly the increased situation awareness But also the possibility of savings in fuel, of avoiding damage to ships due to collisions and groundings and of preventing lost sailing days due to repairs is evident Finally, increased competitiveness due to the ability to operate confidently in adverse weather conditions should be mentioned Notes The full text of the Copenhagen Declaration can be read on the following website: http://www.helcom.fi/ manandsea/shipping/navigation.html Commission to the European Parliament can be found at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/ library/com142-en.pdf A list of distributors can be found at: www.primar.org/stavanger The full texts of the E.U reports can be found at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/extra/ rep_waterborne.html Editor’s Note: Ole Berg is a former submarine Commanding Officer in the Royal Danish Navy Since 1993, he has been Director of the Danish Hydrographic Office (Charting) He has been active in the international co-operation on the development of Electronic Navigational Charts and ECDIS The full text of the Communication from the EU Steen Nielsen is a Special Adviser at the Danish Mari- Now these benefits are also backed by research results One central finding in casualty investigations is that the human factor accounts for the overwhelming majority of accidents Hence, schemes that limit the extent of human errors, for example by means of better education and training, ECDIS systems and other policies are the most likely risk reduction factors It is the authors’ hope that ship owners will follow the lead of the companies mentioned in this article to the benefit of all ■ time Authority (DMA), Division of Safety & Environmental Legislation, where he is responsible for safety of navigation issues on a national, regional and global basis He graduated as a deck officer in 1980 and, after having served as a Mate and Chief-Mate in tank, supply and passenger ships, got his Master Degree in 1985 While sailing for a national ferry line he started at law school, obtaining his law degree in 1992 Since 1993 he has been working in several DMA divisions/sections He is a trained ship surveyor and has been part of the team that introduced the ISM Code to Danish ships and companies BIMCO PUBLICATIONS The status report on manpower in shipping! BIMCO and ISF have published the results of their 2000 Manpower update, the most comprehensive study of world-wide supply and demand for seafarers so far undertaken Order the full report, including technical annexes, from BIMCO Publication A/S Price: BIMCO Members DKK 420.00 (USD 50.00/GBP 35.00), non-members DKK 420.00 (USD 50.00/GBP 35.00) BIMCO PUBLICATIONS A/S 161 BAGSVAERDVEJ · DK - 2880 BAGSVAERD PHONE : + 45 4436 6800 · FAX : + 45 4436 6868 E - MAIL : PUBLICATIONS@BIMCO.DK BIMCO BULLETIN · VOLUME 97 · NO · 2002 35