In little more than three months we will see the carriage requirements for the
Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) begin its phased
introduction. ECDIS is a notable advance to be welcomed by all of those who
believe that eNavigation is a step in the right direction, making navigation
yet more precise.But like all navigational advances from the introduction of
the gyro-compass to satnav and advanced radars, the latest improvement comes
with a number of important "health warnings". As with all these advances,
complete reliance is to be avoided and the practices of good seamanship, which
insist on alternative systems for checking, must still be followed assiduously.
Training is clearly essential, both in terms of the generic understanding of
the systems and complete familiarity with that aboard ship.
As with all electronic equipment, ECDIS can go wrong and too much reliance will
lead to a complacent attitude that is unprepared for the (hopefully rare)
incident. Pilots are already reporting occasional instances of ECDIS errors and
anomalies, which may be difficult to detect in the open sea but become much
more obvious with the ship in restricted waters and the scale of the chart
plainly showing discrepancies with what can be seen visually and what is shown
on the chart. One recent report of a nearly new ship entering a port in North
Europe showed an error in the system which could not be easily remedied, even
though the ship had an electro-technical specialist on board.
The ECDIS with radar overlay was completely wrong and despite three fibre optic
gyro systems all tallying one with another, the pilot was able to demonstrate,
with the close proximity of buoys, that the channel alignment shown on the
chart was seriously in error. The ARPA plot was also affected.
The visibility was clear and the pilot able to navigate by eye, but the
inference was clear. Had the pilotage been reliant on the ECDIS alone, in foggy
conditions, the ship could well have been in serious trouble. This is, so the
pilot's organisation pointed out, not an isolated case.
Also causing concern are the number of ships which are using pirated software
in their electronic chart systems and also uncorrected and out of date
software, something which pilots have reported on occasions. This, too, can be
potentially threatening should the visibility clamp down. On one occasion
aboard a large container ship in thick fog, the pilot was repeatedly questioned
by the bridge team about his actions in taking a ship down a channel which had
been dredged adequately for the vessel's depth two years previously, but with
the ship's software indicating a channel too shallow for a safe passage.
It might be that ECDIS requires a period of "bedding in", although there still
seems to be no shortage of "operating anomalies" being reported. It would seem
that such is the considerable differences between the new electronic regime and
the old paper chart system of navigation that a great deal of caution is
required as navigators become familiar with their new tools! BIMCO
------------------------------------
1. Moderator tidak bertanggung jawab atas kebenaran isi dan/atau identitas
asli pengirim berita.
2. ATTACHMENT akan dibanned, krmkan ke pelaut-owner atau upload ke FILE.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pelaut/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pelaut/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
