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Marpol Annex -Regulations for preventing oil pollution from ships To prevent pollution of the sea and the consequent destruction and damage to life in it and along its shores, extensive international legislation exists, and some nations enforce far-reaching and strict laws Attention is drawn to national laws in the appropriate volumes of Admiralty Sailing Directions Actual or probable, discharges of oil or noxious substances, or sightings of pollution should be reported to the coastal authorities Specific instructions on reporting, where known, are given in Admiralty List of Radio Signals Volume MARPOL Annex I (Oil) entered into force on 2nd October 1983 It contains regulations for the prevention of pollution by oil The United Kingdom domestic legislation to implement this Annex was the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 1983 Discharging of Oil : The regulations govern the discharges, except for clean or segregated ballast, from all ships They require inter alia all ships to be fitted with pollution prevention equipment to comply with the stringent discharge regulations Discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixtures, as defined in an Appendix to the Convention, is prohibited by the regulations of AnnexI except when all the following conditions are satisfied From the machinery space bilges of all ships, except from those of tankers where the discharge is mixed with oil cargo residue:  The ship is not within a Special Area;  The ship is more than 12nautical miles from the nearest land;  The ship is en route;  The oil content of the effluent is less than 15 parts per million And;  The ship has in operation an oil discharge monitoring and control system, oily-water separating equipment, oil filtering system or other installation required by this Annex These restrictions not apply to discharges of oily mixture which without dilution have an oil content not exceeding 15ppm From the cargo area of an oil tanker (discharges from cargo tanks, including cargo pump rooms; and from machinery space bilges mixed with cargo oil residue):  The tanker is not within a Special Area;  The tanker is more than 50nautical miles from the nearest land;  The tanker is proceeding en route;  The instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does not exceed 30litres per nautical mile;  The total quantity of oil discharged into the sea does not exceed for existing tankers 1/15000 of the total quantity of the particular cargo of which the residue formed a part, and for new tankers (as defined in the Annex) 1/30000 of the total quantity of the particular cargo of which the residue formed a part; and  The tanker has in operation, except where provided for in the Annex, an oil discharge monitoring and control system and a slop tank arrangement Special and Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas AnnexI applies to all such areas Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plans (SOPEP): Regulation26 of Annex1 to MARPOL 73/78 requires every oil tanker of 150grt and above and every other vessel of 400grt and above, to carry on board a SOPEP approved by the vessel’s flag administration Regulation26 came into force on April 1995 for all existing vessels IMO has produced guidelines, as IMO Resolution MEPC 54(32), for the development of SOPEPs This regulation also applies to offshore installations engaged in gas and oil production, seaports and oil terminals Environment Aspects / Causes of Pollution from Ships The interface of ships with the marine and air environments can lead to their potential pollution in the following ways: Pollution by Oil (including Oily Bilge Water) Pollution by other Noxious substances & Packaged Harmful substances Pollution by Garbage Pollution by Sewage Air pollution from Engine Emission of Ozone-depleting substances Leaching from Anti-fouling of Hull paint Pollution by Ballast water (migration of invasive species) Items (1) to (6) above are governed by the MARPOL Convention Item (7) is in Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships Item (8) comes under Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments Any sighting of pollutant around or near the vessel should immediately brought to the notice of ships master and action to be taken to mitigate pollution as per SOPEP Special Areas under MARPOL In Annex I Prevention of pollution by oil, Annex II Control of pollution by noxious liquid substances, Annex IV Prevention of pollution by sewage from ships and Annex V Prevention of pollution by garbage from ships, MARPOL defines certain sea areas as "special areas" in which, for technical reasons relating to their oceanographical and ecological condition and to their sea traffic, the adoption of special mandatory methods for the prevention of sea pollution is required Under the Convention, these special areas are provided with a higher level of protection than other areas of the sea Annex VI Regulations for the Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships establishes certain sulphur oxide (SOx) Emission Control Areas with more stringent controls on sulphur emissions and nitrogen oxides (NOx) Emission Control Areas for Tier III NOx emission standards Special areas under MARPOL are as follows: Adoption, entry into force & date of taking effect of Special Areas Special Areas Adopted # Date of Entry into Force In Effect From Annex I: Oil Mediterranean Sea Nov 1973 Oct 1983 Oct 1983 Baltic Sea Nov 1973 Oct 1983 Oct 1983 Black Sea Nov 1973 Oct 1983 Oct 1983 Red Sea Nov 1973 Oct 1983 * "Gulfs" area Nov 1973 Oct 1983 Aug 2008 Gulf of Aden Dec 1987 Apr 1989 * Antarctic area 16 Nov 1990 17 Mar 1992 17 Mar 1992 North West European Waters 25 Sept 1997 Feb 1999 Aug 1999 Oman area of the Arabian Sea 15 Oct 2004 Jan 2007 * Southern South African waters 13 Oct 2006 Mar 2008 Aug 2008 30 Oct 1992 Jul 1994 Jul 1994 15 Jul 2011 Jan 2013 ** Mediterranean Sea Nov 1973 31 Dec 1988 May 2009 Baltic Sea Nov 1973 31 Dec 1988 Oct 1989 Black Sea Nov 1973 31 Dec 1988 * Red Sea Nov 1973 31 Dec 1988 * "Gulfs" area Nov 1973 31 Dec 1988 Aug 2008 North Sea 17 Oct 1989 18 Feb 1991 18 Feb 1991 16 Nov 1990 17 Mar 1992 17 Mar 1992 Jul 1991 Apr 1993 May 2011 Annex II: Noxious Liquid Substances Antarctic area Annex IV: Sewage Baltic Sea Annex V: Garbage Antarctic area (south of latitude 60 degrees south) Wider Caribbean region including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea Annex VI: Prevention of air pollution by ships (Emission Control Areas) Baltic Sea (SOx ) 26 Sept 1997 19 May 2005 19 May 2006 (NOx) July 2017 Jan 2019 Jan 2021**** North Sea (SOx) 22 Jul 2005 22 Nov 2006 22 Nov 2007 (NOx) July 2017 Jan 2019 Jan 2021**** 26 Mar 2010 Aug 2011 Aug 2012 North American ECA (SOx and PM) (NOx) Jan 2016*** United States Caribbean Sea ECA (SOx and PM) (NOx) 26 Jul 2011 Jan 2013 Jan 2014 Jan 2016*** # Status of multilateral conventions and instruments in respect of which the International Maritime Organization or its Secretary-General perform depositary or other functions as at 31 December 2002 * The Special Area requirements for these areas have not yet taken effect because of lack of notifications from MARPOL Parties whose coastlines border the relevant special areas on the existence of adequate reception facilities (regulations 38.6 of MARPOL Annex I and 5(4) of MARPOL Annex V) ** The new special area requirements, which entered into force on January 2013, will only take effect upon receipt of sufficient notifications on the existence of adequate reception facilities from Parties to MARPOL Annex IV whose coastlines border the relevant special area (regulation 13.2 of the revised MARPOL Annex IV, which was adopted by resolution MEPC.200(62) and which entered into force on January 2013) *** A ship constructed on or after January 2016 and is operating in these emission control areas shall comply with NOx Tier III standards set forth in regulation 13.5 of MARPOL Annex VI **** A ship constructed on or after January 2021 and is operating in these emission control areas shall comply with NOX Tier III standards set forth in regulation 13.5 of MARPOL Annex VI ================================== Understanding Different Types Of Manoeuvres of a Vessel Before venturing deeper into our topic of discussion, let us first understand what the term ‘manoeuvrability’ of a ship means Manoeuvrability is defined as the inherent ability of a vessel to change its course/path Understanding the factor of manoeuvrability of a vessel is extremely important to a designer or a seafarer, along with other aspects such as structural design, machinery, propulsion, stability and seakeeping As a ship has to endure long voyages through different weather conditions, it is important that the performance of a vessel during the day-to-day instances of its voyage are not compromised on:  Turning about an obstruction such as landmass or any other marine vehicle  Circling about a desired point of interest  Surging, stopping and accelerating  For maintaining/varying its course or direction  To maintain a desired path/trajectory  To promptly veer about an object (ship, iceberg, landmass, reef etc.) without costing much in time In fact, various types of manoeuvres a ship needs to execute may be plentiful and enlisting all of them will be difficult Needless to say, manoeuvring is an important pastureland in the field of marine design and analysis of vessel performance postdesign Tanker Turning in Gibraltar – Credits: Depositphotos Now the question arises, is turning or stopping a ship similar to that of a car? The answer is a very big NO Unlike cars or other modes of land transport, one of the biggest problems in manoeuvring marine vehicles like ships is the hydrodynamic water- body interaction that takes place This makes the problems of motion and control complicated Let us try to understand this with an example Suppose you’re driving a car and need to stop hastily You apply the brakes and in a few seconds, the car comes to a dead stop Or in another case you are required to make a quick swerve while driving on a hilly road You promptly tilt the steering wheel and the car takes up the desired path almost instantaneously Unfortunately, this is not possible with ships Firstly, because unlike cars, ships not run on solid surfaces and hence cannot have brakes Secondly, the forces that act on a car are entirely different from the hydrodynamics of the surrounding fluid that acts on the ship’s large inertial mass (which doesn’t allow it to be as responsive as the car) Hence, prediction of motion controllability in the case of a ship is a tedious job not only at design/construction stage, but also at the operational stage Definitive Manoeuvres Rudders and various other control surfaces are provided to control the motion of a ship at sea A good manoeuvre requires a proper hydrodynamic interaction between the control surface and the ship structure as a whole Control surfaces such as rudders, therefore, are the external means of aiding manoeuvrability through interaction with the hydrodynamic parameters associated with the vessel Also, it is essential to note that all kinds of manoeuvres are triggered off by the application of rudder force in some specific direction Right after the launch, a ship undergoes all the necessary trials under certain predefined conditions to assess these manoeuvring abilities IMO has its own set of rules slated for conducting each of these manoeuvring trials for optimising the maximum feasible limits with the best performance of the vessel What are Manoeuvring Trials? Just as all other aspects of the ship namely engine, ballast, cargo handling, etc need to undergo trials, the vessel’s manoeuvrability aspects are also tested to ensure that it can safely navigate under worst-case scenarios Based on the possible manoeuvres the vessel can have, a certain set of trials are conducted for each form of manoeuvre The results in the form of dynamic variables are then compared with the pre-defined standards USS Nimitz during sea trials – Credits: US Navy Photos/Wikipedia These sea trials help in acquiring the entire data output of the vessel eliminating the scaling complexities of a model Moreover, in case flaws are detected during trials, they can be rectified right away without any uncertainty, prior to the delivery of the ship However, there are certain drawbacks of conducting vessel trials and the results received from the same They can be enlisted as:  Environmental vagaries can disrupt the trials and yield inaccurate results  They are costly  They are time-consuming and cumbersome  As trials need to be performed in wide open seas, most often, the vessels have to travel a long distance from their place of launch Before conducting manoeuvring trials, for accurate results, it is essential to ensure that the conditions are congenial for a trial and are in accordance with the required standards  Deep and unrestricted waters: As per IMO criteria, the depth of the water should be more than times the draft at midship Moreover, it should be done in a place isolated from other ship traffic and far from any landmass  Calm Sea Conditions: The prevalent weather in that region must be suitable for the trial to be conducted The Sea State value must be strictly less than and the wind speed should be within Beaufort Scale It goes without saying that all trials should be cancelled in case of harsh weather conditions such as storm, cyclones, rainfall, snowfall etc  Away from Tidal Influence: All trials should be conducted in areas where there is lesser influence of tides, currents, swells and even high waves  Proper draft, even keel and no trim in the proposed loading conditions  Steady Approach: Before taking a trial, the vessel must be allowed to run on a steady course for some time This is done in order to monitor the propulsion and machinery systems of the ship and to stabilise the driving machinery According to IMO norms, the slated approach speed should not be less than 90% of the speed corresponding to 85% MCR (Maximum Continuous Rating) of the main engine Some of the common manoeuvring sea trials a ship is put through are:  Turning Circle Manoeuvre (for medium/large size vessels, mainly)  Collision Avoidance (Small, non-displacement)  Zig-zag Test  Spiral and Reverse Spiral Test  Pull-out Test (all kinds of general-purpose vessels with a rudder)  Stopping Test (including Crash Stop) which of course has nothing to with course- keeping/manoeuvrability but is a necessary speed trial carried out in tandem to with all the previous ones to characterise its stopping ability TURNING CIRCLE MANOEUVRE This is the most common manoeuvre a vessel may be required to every now and then Let us take some instances such as making a swerve around a landmass ( island, port, harbour, other vessels), taxing/berthing for cargo handling, making its way through Dealing with Illegal requests A Master in his career can come across number of different kind of pressures to sign a bill of lading that he is not suppose to sign I personally have come across to some of these Let us see what these requests can be 1) Request to sign bill of lading with ship shore quantity difference Terminal may request master to sign bill of lading showing more loaded quantity than ship’s figure The terminal may ask the master to issue letter of protest for discrepancies in quantities and sign the bill of ladings The master may find himself under pressure for delays and terminal manager may on board with a letter of protest stating all delays will be on ship’s account Another one, terminal demanding the vessel to leave berth within three hours of completion of cargo Whatever the case, Master must not come under pressure to sign bill of lading which he thinks he should not sign Generally, Master can sign bill of lading if the ship shore quantity difference is lesser than 0.3% If the difference is more than 0.3%, master should request for P&I attendance and must never sign bill of lading unless matter has been sorted out 2) Request to sign blank or incomplete bill of ladings In one sentence, the request must be denied We have discussed earlier in this blog , the possible reasons for this request In most cases the reason for this request is insufficient data due to EDP Master should inform the owners and charterers if any such bill of lading is presented to him for signing 3) Request to issue clean bill of lading Shipper may request the master to issue clean bill of lading with a logic that clean bill of lading is required for letter of credit from the bank Though true, but that is a problem shipper has to deal with and master must only sign the bill of lading which describes the actual condition of the cargo Shipper may propose to indemnify master and owners of any consequences because of it Master must resist from any of such pressures as there are huge risks involved in this It does not matter if any indemnity letter was issued to master If master issues a clean bill of lading despite inaccuracies, it will be assumed that cargo was loaded in apparent good condition Owners would have little to defend for any cargo claims arising because of inaccurate bill of lading if clean bill of lading was issued by the master 4) Request to retain an original bill of lading on board Shipper may request to keep one or more than one original bill of lading on board and carry same to discharge port Shippers does this to avoid the possibility of original bill of lading not arriving at discharge port before vessel’s arrival This is particularly the case with short voyage where it is impossible for shipper to provide the original bill of lading at discharge port Master usually signs three original bill of ladings and few of the non-negotiable copies of bill of ladings The number of original bill of ladings signed by master is mentioned on each bill of ladings, usually on the bottom of front cover None of these original bill of ladings can be carried on board to discharge port If requested by shipper, Master must deny any such request as their are risks involved with this The main risk involved is the change of ownership of the cargo while the vessel is enroute If there has been change of title of the cargo, this would reflect on the two bill of ladings but not on the bill of lading carried by th master onboard So the bill of lading carried by the master may not be showing correct details to whom the cargo belongs The ship owner will have absolutely no defense in wrongful delivery of the cargo in this case 5) Request to discharge cargo at different destination to that in bill of lading If a request is made to proceed to a port different than that mentioned in bill of lading, master must inform the ship owners Apart from that he must proceed only when ship owners have safeguarded their interest There are two risks involved in such a request first, one of the original being presented at port of discharge stated in bill of lading Second, claim for deviation to another port Ship owners has the arrangements to deal with such requests, such as they can ask the shipper to re-issue the bill of lading after destroying the previous one Whatever the arrangements, 6) Request to discharge the cargo without production of original bill of lading The practice of discharging the cargo against a LOI (Letter of indemnity) is so common specially in tanker trade that this can trick masters Masters must ensure that direct request from charterers/shipper to discharge the cargo against such LOI should not be considered Master must receive such instructions from the ship owners If vessel is on time charter, charterer would receive the LOI from shipperor sub charterer and instruct master to discharge the cargo These instructions might look something like this In these cases, sometimes owners need LOI in their own format Also such LOI from shipper or sub-charterer is indemnifying the charterers but not the owners Owners are not under any contractual obligations with sub-charterers and such LOI might not be enough to protect owner’s interest So in this case owners might need a separate LOI in their format from the charterers (time) of the vessel =========================================== Ships operation - treatment of injured person during navigation The treatment of any ill or injured person on board should be initially undertaken as per the guidelines mentioned in the ‘WHO International Medical Guide for Ships’ If the Guide advises vessel to seek “Radio Medical Advice” or otherwise deemed necessary by the Master, the following procedure is to be followed In International waters, the Master should contact : INTERNATIONAL RADIO MEDICAL CENTRE (C.I.R.M.) Phone: 39-06-54223045 OR 39-348-3984229 Facsimile: 39-06-5923333 E-Mail : telesoccorso@cirm.it OR Alternatively, Master may request Medical advice or Medical Evacuation (in case of serious medical emergency) by contacting nearest CES by Inmarsat phone using Code 32: Medical Advice /// Code 38: Medical Evacuation (For example): CES is Singapore (Sentosa), then vessel should dial for medical advice 210# - 32# OR The Master may also request Medical advice or Medical Evacuation (in case of serious medical emergency) by contacting nearest MRCC by Inmarsat phone, the contact details being mentioned in ALRS Volume I (NP 281) Information Required when Requesting Assistance (Regarding Vessel): i) Vessel’s Name , Call sign and Flag ii) Position , Port of Departure and Destination, ETA (Regarding patient): i) Name, Rank, Sex, Date of Birth and Nationality ii) Temperature, Blood pressure, Pulse and Respiratory rate iii) Patient’s Symptoms, Location of pain, associated symptoms iv) Other medical problems with special reference to Drug or other allergies, Chronic illness and their treatment v) In case of accident , Nature of injury , where and how the accident took place vi) Therapy already administered to the patient Serious Medical Emergency Where the Radio Medical Advice suggests emergency evacuation of the patient to shore medical facility , the Master has to liaise with the nearest Coastal State MRCC on whether; Helicopter evacuation is possible (If affirmative, seek guidance from WHO International Medical Guide for Ships and the Guide to Helicopter/Ship Operations) OR Vessel has to make an emergency entry into nearest suitable port Treatment of patient in port If as a result of Radio Medical Advice or in the judgment of the Master, a visit to the Doctor ashore is necessary for any crew member , he shall request same from the local agent and use “Doctor Visit Report” The master shall advise to the Company for pre-notice of the Doctor visit and also report the course of events with the medical certificate ===================================== Guideline for ship- Confirming & handling death of a crew onboard Confirmation of Death The Master must establish that the crew member is deceased by referring to the guidelines mentioned in the WHO International Medical Guide for Ships or on the basis of radio medical advice Further action to be Taken by Master a) Inform Company (who in turn will advise next-of-kin) b) If in port or at anchor, call the local agent and then inform to parties concerned such as a Doctor and the Police the Local correspondents of P&I Club etc., through the Local agent, enabling them to assist and inform the authorities as required by the laws of that particular country c) Unless advised to the contrary, the body is to be preserved in an emptied reefer compartment , after preparation as per the Guide d) All personal effects of the deceased should be recorded and packed, in the presence of officers These should be delivered to the agent to be sent to the Company together with a copy of the inventory list for forwarding to the next-of-kin e) Advise agent at next port of call and ask him to inform all local authorities according to local regulations , the consulate of the ships flag state and the deceased , and the correspondent of the P&I Club f) Make necessary entries in the Official Log Book and/or the Deck Log Book g) A Maritime Declaration of Health is to be passed to the next port if death was caused other than by accident Evidence to be recorded / collected 1) In case of accident, take timed photographs of the place where the deceased was found 2) Evidence such as wires or some tool etc which may have caused the death should be marked and stored safely 3) Date/exact time and location when death occurred, and vessels position 4) Medical treatment given to the deceased before death and by whom 5) Record of the working hours of the deceased 6) Indication of intoxication of any kind 7) Detailed and complete eye witness statements to be taken immediately ============================================== Handling Missing persons- If Missing At Sea or If Witnessed Falling Overboard Below is our guideline When a person reported missing from ship If Missing At Sea (1) If it is discovered that a person is missing, the Master shall make a U-turn immediately to search the nearby waters for the missing person, and send an emergency message on radio to other ships in the area to request assistance (2) The Master shall notify the office of the following items: a) The time and position of the vessel when discovered that a person was missing and what was done immediately thereafter; b) The state of search, weather and sea conditions; c) Whether an emergency message has been sent or not, and the response of other ships; d) The latest observed health condition of the missing person and other information that may be of interest e) The final result of the search will depend on the weather and sea condition Discontinuation the search and return to the original route shall only take place after consultation with the Company f) The personal effects should be inventoried and along with documents returned to next-of-kin upon receiving instructions from Company g) Consulate of the crew and the ships Flag administration to be informed If Witnessed Falling Overboard a) Witness must immediately release lifebuoy with light and flare/smoke signal If in daylight, throw overboard any big floating objects that may help to indicate the position b) Inform the bridge and the Master, which side the person fell overboard Activate GPS man overboard positioning button c) Start the Williamson turn ( which to be posted on bridge) d) Sound the General Alarm e) Inform Engine Room of occurrence and possible manoeuvring f) Check vessels positions g) Alert ships in the vicinity h) Broadcast Man-overboard Warning i) Use extra Lookouts posted to keep person/flare/marking in sight j) Prepare a lifeboat or the Rescue Boat, if any, to pick up person overboard Make sure the boat has a VHF radio onboard for communication with the bridge k) Sound three long blasts repeatedly l) Inform all m) Note the temperature of the seawater and consider the chances of survival Prepare treatment when survivor is recovered Note: Refer also to the IAMSAR VOL III If Missing in Port (1) It must not be assumed that any crew member who fails to rejoin the vessel prior departure is a deserter (2) The cabin should be searched for any indication that there was intent to desert (3) Local agent, authorities, P&I Club correspondent and the Company should be informed immediately and vessel to await Immigration Clearance (4) Documents and inventoried personal effects should be delivered to the agent and receipt obtained (5) Master to request agent to advise Consulate of the crew and the ships flag Notification to Next-of-Kin The Company shall notify the missing persons family with details about the situation The information given shall be based on facts only and not contain speculations of any kind ============================================== How To Use Parallel Indexing Techniques For Ship Navigation? Position plotting is a vital element of passage planning and monitoring Safety of navigation lies upon the fact as to how accurately position of the vessel has been ascertained While transiting open seas or coastal waters, narrow canals, river passages or port and harbour approaches – the basic foundation of navigation lies on position fixing Various methods are available for position fixing, including visual bearings, radar fixes, terrestrial and celestial observations and GPS fixes Each of these methods can be used in combination or alone to verify against each other and ascertain ship’s position with required levels of precision and accuracy depending upon the location of the vessel Image for Representation Purpose Only (Credits: portofgothenburg.com) For e.g In open seas where traffic density is scarce a celestial observation or GPS fix is an acceptable method for position fixing, however in coastal congested water or traffic separation schemes or narrow channels, canals and river passages radar, visual or terrestrial bearings are more reliable as compared to GPS fixes While transiting a traffic lane or following a traffic separation lane or passing a shoreline/rock, close by vessel must be kept on the track planned and thus cross track distance should be zero or kept to minimum as the available sea room is less to avoid a hazard or danger Parallel indexing is a technique used as a measure to monitor the progress of a vessel on the track and to minimise the cross track distance and to keep vessel at a safe distance from the shoreline or rock The basic principle of this method is that in order to maintain and follow a particular course – a bearing line drawn parallel to the original course with a known and fixed perpendicular distance between both the lines is used as a reference The increase or decrease of the perpendicular distance between the bearing lines drawn parallel to course-line and ship’s position at any time will indicate cross track deviation from the initial planned course and thus advise a mariner if he/she is falling out of a traffic lane, entering a traffic separation zone or closing in to a navigational danger The reference point from which the bearing line parallel to course line is drawn is taken as a fixed buoy, light house, headland, jetty, fixed platform or fixed radar conspicuous object Thus the imaginary line drawn parallel to the course to steer from a fixed object is always at a fixed distance from it While a ship follows course to steer, parallel indexing ensures it always remains at a fixed distance from a hazard Thus parallel indexing is a method to alert mariner that he has come close to a navigational hazard Parallel indexing technique can be used as it is provided in the options menu of radar where distance between parallel lines can be fixed and it can also be set to maintain safe distance from two fixed objects simultaneously on either side of a vessel Upon selecting Parallel Index lines in options menu – a set of floating lines parallel to each other appears on the screen The orientation of these lines can be set by using the EBL marker and the distance between these lines adjusted by the VRM marker Another method is to use a floating EBL, which is to be offset and positioned at the hazard or object and aligned parallel to the course to steer A floating VRM circle of a fixed radius can be placed on the object so that the course to steer is a tangent to this range circle As the ship comes inside, the VRM circle gives indication to mariners to alter course to stay at a safe distance from the danger Parallel indexing from floating objects cannot be accepted unless they have been first checked for a position A floating object will not give an accurate position As an important part of passage plan, Parallel indexing is a recommended feature to be incorporated in various legs of the passage Solas Ch V reg 34, IMP Res A 893 and OCIMF Guidelines require prudent selection of fixed objects before using them for parallel indexing