Charts vs ECDIS

As in many evolutions, the outcomes are always better if expectations are made known at the outset with clear instructions and procedures. Just assuming everyone knows what they are will inevitably lead to poor outcomes.

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Stockholm and Andrea Doria for example.

Or, with ARPA almost 25 years later, Exxon Chester and Regal Sword.

Indeed, all Captains & Mates should be competent in the use of any and all essential navigational equipment. There may be “some” validity to “People who complain about ECDIS are just projecting their own inadequacies”, but you can’t discount concerns over power loss issues, crashing of ECDIS’s, and issues when inputting chart corrections. In a perfect world, none of these problems occur, but as you know in the real world technical, mechanical problems can and do happen. As more safeguards are put into place, there will be a lot more confidence in the equipment. Unless the ship is beginning a new trade route, most of the routes should already be saved in the ECDIS and it’s just a matter of loading them up, checking all the settings and alarms (which the Captain should have made standing orders for), having all corrections uploaded, and running a voyage simulation safety check to identify any hazards in the route.

Your comment “You get a lot of masters who get paid big money to sit doing nothing in their cabin most of the day” suggests that you haven’t sailed above 2nd Mate. That’s understandable, as there are a lot of 3rd & 2nd Mates that don’t have the slightest clue as to the responsibilities and work that the Chief Mates and Captains do. In the Captain’s case, very much of his “duties” are out of sight of the crew. If you do happen to sail as Chief Mate and eventually as Captain it will be a real eyeopener for you when you discover how many few hours there are in a day compared to what is “your job and duties” require and what expected of you.

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How can you go from a paper chart with manual updates.
Put it on a screen with gps and fail??
Total failure of I.T.

2 posts were split to a new topic: What do Captain and Chief do all day?

ECDIS is perfectly fine when used appropriately but another factor that is often overlooked in my opinion is the age of the hardware and software that is being used. Companies don’t always see eye to eye with the operators of the vessel when it comes to upgrading hardware (or software for that matter) that may have been in service for over 10 years and is starting to show its age.

Most ECDIS systems are built to a fairly robust standard in relation to the typical desktop computer but they are certainly not everlasting. We are talking about a CPU that is almost never shut down. Ship’s require constant improvement to their systems as they age and the ECDIS is no different. When the primary operators start reporting glitches and recurring problems, companies need to be proactive and install new hardware. The band-aid approach is a recipe for disaster if you are putting all of your eggs in the ECDIS basket.

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the DP world has gotten on well with PC’s ( since before PC’s even existed) which realy shows up ECDIS’s issues.

The ECDIS running process, that is the collection, processing and display of navigation information happens with minimal intervention by the watchstander but the set-up process is highly prone to human error.

The chance of an error during set-up is orders of magnitude higher the the chance of an error during use. Error during set-up become a latent error for the entire voyage (or voyages).

Set-up errors are also far easier to detect and correct than are errors made in real time by the watchstander.

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This is true but what are the chances of two ECDIS failing simultaneously or nearly so? Very remote chance.

Assuming no ECDIS what’s the worse case scenario? Pilots typically don’t make much use of the ECDIS so little additional risk in that case.

In areas that are difficult to navigate like the English Channel and Singapore the radar can be set up to show the VTS lanes. The GPS receivers should have the voyage waypoints entered, the “Highway” mode can be used to go waypoint to waypoint until other arrangements can be made. I used to have the waypoints entered into my IPad running INax. Not to mention visual navigation.

Be prudent to carry small scale paper charts. Chartlets can be emailed to the ship. Charts can be constructed with plotting sheets with navigation hazards added by hand from the sailing directions / Coast pilots.

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Every ECDIS I’ve used is just a fancy Windows PC, just like DP systems.

Hopefully the requirements are for a 24v PC with a solid state hard drive.
Allowing home PC’s on to vessels was the real problem, push in plug for power??

They make the really neat things that go between a PC and wall outlet called an Uninterrupted Power Supply, UPS. Been around forever, quite good at keeping what ever is plugged in from turning off when the power is ya know interrupted…

Makes it real easy for IT to come by and upgrade computers every few years because we keep a hard drive plugged in that does automatic backups and all they do is restore that data on the new computer.

If you ever open up a Konsgberg or Converteam DP console you’ll find HP machines that you can buy from Walmart inside.

Yes, but not really. Yes, you may find that model of HP computer at Walmart, but I doubt very much if it has a type approval sticker on it. The computers used by Kongsberg and ECDIS units are type approved by Class. The two (found in Walmart and used by Kongsberg) may even be identical, but the one used by Kongsberg will be a lot more expensive if you have to replace it.

FWIW, the computer that has the “official” copy of the stability program is also supposed to be Class type approved as well. You can have & use the program on non-type approved computers as long as it is resident on one that is type approved.

The monitor has to be type approved also. Hatteland Display has more or less monopoly on Norwegian vessels. The monitor alone cost $3-4k

the walmart PC is the display PC its not the one doing the work and calculations

Hence my comment ‘type approved’ and the power cable just plugs in and a spinning hard drive.
on AHTS the plug falls out and they crash due to the vibration, lucky you dont use DP when pulling anchors

Every DP system and ECDIS system I’ve come across has retainers on them so that’s not possible.

According to the site Safety4Sea the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is 13,000 hrs or about 1.5 years.

The recommendation is replace after 5 years, 3-5 years is typical for business. Be cheaper to replace the components that fail rather than pay for repairs and off-hire time.

Not to mention having a serious accident because somebody think they are saving money by waiting to replace worn out or due to expire equipment.

Have you heard the popular saying; “If it ain’t broken, why fix it”?

Another saying may be more relevant; “If you think a new (Computer) is expensive, wait until you see the cost of having an accident”.