27 Feb ECDIS: Electronic Chart Display & Information System
Technology advances and industries develop with the focus on becoming more efficient, reliable and safe. In our rapidly changing world, it is important that we prepare and monitor transition processes carefully. We have to make sure that a new system that will be or already has been implemented, is actually a step forward. As a reaction, sometimes we are expected to specialize in systems that we have not worked with before or are still becoming familiar with. This is especially the case before giving more responsibility away to computer systems and having to rely on them completely. To do so, vigilance and guidance is needed in the form of training. Enhancing knowledge of the systems, the skills and competence to work with them and having the right attitude towards a certain technology will overcome frequent and unnecessary errors by their users.
For the maritime industry, one of the major changes over the last decades has been the shift from Paper Navigational Charts to Electronic Navigational Charts. Leaving the old school days of navigational skills with a pencil far behind us, we now have to tell an Electronic Chart Display & Information System (ECDIS) what we want.
Specialized operators
Navigating teams on board of vessels, equipped with ECDIS, have to become more and more specialized operators. They have to handle the Electronic Navigation and set up systems correctly before putting them to work. Shipping companies are expected to have adapted procedures into their SMS systems and the officers on board are expected to know all the details of their ECDIS system: from installation and usage to updating and limitations of the system. How can Shipping Companies make sure that their crew is well trained and that their ECDIS systems are used in accordance to the minimum requirements set out by the IMO, company procedures and maximum comfort for the users? With Integrated Navigational Systems on bridges that are able to visualize different projections and layers, it is important that the operator is aware of the danger he can put himself and the vessel in.
Installation requirements are vital aspects of this:
• Flagstate approval & back up requirements or exemptions
• Latest ECDIS IHO standards
• Basic knowledge of the system
• User features and preferences
• Correct setting of the layers
• Default parameter settings vs. limitations & Alarm Management
Expectations and developments at shipyards show that clients and ship builders are not afraid of equipping their vessels with the latest and most advanced technology there is.
ECDIS Best Practices & Auditing Steps training
With the increasing demand for ECDIS training needs, we at SIMWAVE put the focus on proper electronic Voyage Planning procedures, in-depth ECDIS knowledge by providing best practices and offering a set of guidelines for both shoreside and onboard personnel to be best prepared for audits. Whether it is on site at our location in Barendrecht-Rotterdam, remotely at your office abroad, or on board your merchant vessel or yacht, Simwave provides a unique product with a remote ECDIS Simulation Centre. This provides you with a taste of the life on board.