The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has warned shipowners they must keep up with ECDIS requirements when they enter Australian ports.
AMSA reports that there are a number of areas that require attention to safe and proper operation of ECDIS.
One of these is the maintenance of ECDIS. Due to the complexity of it involving software, hardware and data, there are possibilities of undetected anomalies. AMSA says this necessitates careful maintenance and management of ECDIS to make sure that the display is correct and to ensure that it keeps up with the current International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) standards.
AMSA suggests that navigating officers should report any anomalies immediately to their flag state authority, including specific details regarding fitted equipment.
In its latest marine notice, AMSA also states that when in Australian waters, shipowners should not be operating their ECDIS systems in the raster chart display system (RCDS) mode. However, AMSA warns that when there is a lack of an electronic navigation chart (ENC) and ships must therefore use the RCDS mode, shipowners and operators need to critically consider the implications of not having the look-ahead capability.
Using the RCDS mode has further limitations than just the lack of look-ahead capability. It will not trigger automatic alarms, chart features cannot be simplified or removed for a particular task and therefore can affect the superimposition of radar according to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration.
The marine notice also lists how port state control inspections meet the SOLAS requirements for chart carriage and the safe and effective conduct of navigation tasks. The notice says that inspectors may take account of ECDIS related issues including appropriate recording of ECDIS equipment, making sure that procedures and instructions for the use of ECDIS are understood by all officers for navigation and that there are adequate back up arrangements in case of ECDIs failure are in place for navigation.
Fathom-News
editor@fathom-mi.com
