A general refrain of old timers is why do the ENC look so different from the paper chart. The former is based on IHO’s S-52 colours and symbols, the other on INT1 Symbols & Abbreviations.
The S-52 has been developed keeping in mind that an ENC is displayed on a CRT or an LCD screen which is fundamentally different from a paper chart. Whereas a paper spread on a table reflects light the computer display emits light. Further the resolution of a typical monitor is insufficient for INT1 symbols to be seen optimally.
Yet if you notice S-52 closely resembles the INT1. So that the mariners get a comfortable feeling of dealing with familiar symbols.
Suppose if there was no compulsion to stick to existing symbols and the digital chart symbols were developed from the point of view of optimum exploitation of the new dynamic medium then, I dare say, the charts would appear radically different. Perhaps with drastic results till such time the mariners got used to it.
Let us take the example of the danger highlight symbol. It resembles a magenta-coloured screw-head and most mariners are stumped when they see it on the screen. Because of this isolated danger symbol we have already had the incident of an ECDIS fitted RO-RO vessel losing a propeller and suffering extensive underwater damages by running over a charted wreck which had being wire-swept to a depth of 1.8 meters. This was in January 2008.
The isolated danger symbol or the screw-head appears only if the user-defined setting of the safety contour is more than the depth over wreck. In this particular case of Pride of Canterbury running over the charted wreck of Mahratta the symbol of the wreck had changed its appearance due to the setting of the safety contour.
The ship was navigating off Dover which was familiar grounds for the Master. However, none from the bridge team consisting of the Master, Chief and 2/O realized the significance of the isolated danger symbol. Had they referred to the paper chart spread on the chart table they would had immediately recognized the wreck symbol.
So much for this dynamic symbol – that was actually designed to draw the attention of the OOW. Not only did it fail to attract the attention, it was simply ignored. For sure, the ECDIS has the facility of interrogation of a symbol when you move the cursor over it. Unfortunately in this particular case it was not used.
In my interaction with students preparing for competency exams, many of whom have undergone ECDIS course, I did not find any who understood the significance of the isolated danger symbol. As ECDIS/ECS usage becomes more widespread let’s hope the users become familiar with dynamic symbols and incidents like Canterbury rarely occurs.
On the other hand widespread usage of ECDIS will surely lead to development of more such uses, so that the digital chart becomes dynamic and changes its appearance due to external factors. Here are some examples which demonstrate how a digital chart is used differently from a paper chart.
- Guard Zone
A concept borrowed from the ARPA. Depending on the speed of a vessel the user defines the length and width of the guard zone which will extend as a probing beam from the ship’s head. Any shallow depths/contours or navigational dangers which happens to fall in this zone will trigger an alarm.
- Echo Referencing
This is an elegant way to accurately position own vessel. It requires positive identification of a stationary target such as a rock/beacon/islet on the radar. Then use the ARPA to acquire the target. The ARPA target should ideally coincide with the charted position of the rock. Many times it doesn’t because your positioning system is in error. The ECDIS allows you to lock this target on the charted object. The small difference in position becomes the correction which is applied on own position. The ECDIS uses the notation ‘R’ to indicate the referenced target.
- Weather Alarms
Set by the user depending on such parameters like heights, wind speed and barometric pressure. These are not chart symbols but an additional layer on the chart. It helps to indicate alarming situations in a particular region. Going a step further, you may have a voyage optimization software which will advise you on the course and speed of the vessel to avoid bad weather and choose the best passage to reach your destination.
- Ice Alarms
Depending on the ice information that has been received you may get alerts to indicate the presence of ice-bergs.
- Man Overboard Mark
The usual MOB mark tells you where the man fell. The ECDIS then generates another moving MOB symbol based on the calculated drift. Some software will also draw the Williamson turn for you to take the vessel around. It has received positive feedbacks from the end-user.
There was a time when a chart meant a wide sheet of paper spread on a flat table on which the outline plan of the coast, underwater details and navigational information was contained. In 2002 SOLAS changed the definition of a chart. The term nautical chart now includes a specially compiled database, for example an ENC, from which such a map can be displayed.
Today even this changed definition is outdated. The current definition implies static data. Whereas now in addition to the static hydrographic data the digital chart on the screen contains external data such as ice information, weather parameters and wave-heights. These data can be accurately collected only in real-time.
It's time we had a new definition of a chart which would reflect the dynamic character of a chart.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
A Seafarer’s Perception of ECDIS
Capt Anshuman Naik has written an excellent post titled 8 myths about mandatory ECDIS in the group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ecdis/. He is an experienced seafarer though he prefers to call himself a ‘hapless mariner’. I have reproduced it below adding my comments in italics.
————————————————
Now that IMO has approved Ecdis becoming mandatory from 2012 there is a lot of interest among shipping companies. People who had earlier burnt their hands over last minute fittings of AIS and LRIT do not wish to repeat the same mistakes. Unfortunately this has given rise to many myths.
Myth 1 - Ecdis will be mandatory on all ships from 2012 so hurry - time is running out!
Reality - Ecdis becomes manadatory from 2012 only for new ships. The timetable requires existing ships to fit it before the first Seq survey after 2014 (passenger) to 2018 (handy sized cargo). The timetable is (all July)-
New passenger and tankers - 2012
New cargo more than 10,000 GT - 2013
New cargo more than 3,000, old passenger - 2014
old tankers more than 3000 - 2015
old cargo more than 50,00 GT - 2016
old cargo more than 20,000 - 2017
Old cargo more than 10,000 - 2018
What this means is that a 2500 teu brand new container ship built today need not have an ecdis upto 2017 - that's a good 8 years and 2 computers away!
A tanker presently sailing (or for that matter even built next year) need not fit ecdis for the next 5 years! Now in computing, that IS a very long time. Remember 2004? Your 1 GB hard drive was considered state of art... today you cannot even buy a 1 GB flash!! More importantly, try running a large program on a 5 year old computer? (Yes - Ecdis programs are very heavy on memory and need lots of space - just like elephants!)
————————————————
True! Any futurist will tell you that 5 to 10 years is a generation away in a fast changing digital world. On top of that the S-57 ENC version 3.1 is frozen since 2000. By the time this version is implemented on SOLAS ships it will be already obsolete.
————————————————
Myth 2 - every ship will have ecdis by 2018
Reality - ships which will be scrapped within 2 yrs of the implementation date are exempted (good ole grandfather clause!).
In other words, a 1995 built cargo ship can be scrapped in 2018 without ever having to fit an ecdis.
————————————————
True! But then not fitting an ECDIS just because it is not mandatory is not in the right spirit. Ask a mariner who has got used to ECDIS/ECS. He will not like to go back to paper charts.
————————————————
Myth 3 - We have raster charts so we have an ecdis. We now comply with the Solas requirement!
Reality - Sorry guys, but IMO believes it is an ecdis only if you have official vector charts (you know - those electronic charts with weird numbers like FR136870) also known as ENC's. Your raster chart is good, but not good enough to be called an Ecdis.
————————————————
Myth 4 - Let's fit a Transas (substitute that for any private chart manufacturer of your choice... C-map, furuno, blah) ecdis - that way we get to comply with the IMO requirement.
Reality - Bad news again! Private vector charts are excellent in quality and reliability, but IMO does not believe them worthy of being called an ecdis.
And just for your information, which charting system (Transas Navisailor, Furuno, Maris, Telko) you install hardly matters. You could get any ecdis software and load ENC's on it. The company matters only as far as the operator friendliness of the interface is concerned (Or should that have been "unfriendliness" ?!)
————————————————
Due to all the hoopla around it is easy to get confused about ECDIS and the digital charts. For example Transas Navi-sailor is an ECDIS which can use Transas charts whereas C-Map is not an ECDIS. Similarly Furuno do not produce charts – they use different types of charts produced by C-Map, Navionics, ENCs etc.
Otherwise what Anshuman says is true, IMO only recognizes ENCs for ECDIS.
————————————————
Myth 5 - let us fit our ecdis now - that way we will be prepared when it becomes mandatory.
Reality - that "state of the art" computer you fit today will be useless 5 years later when ecdis really becomes mandatory for your ship (Moore’s law). It will be terribly slow and outdated. In other words, you anyway would buy a new ecdis.
————————————————
Maybe. But just because something will become obsolete five years from now doesn’t mean that you sit tight.
Myth 6 - Train my men in ecdis? Bah! Humbug!
Reality - Much as this reminds me of Scrooge (may Charles Dicken's soul rest in peace), it is well worth the moolah to spend on a good robust computer, a technician who does not leave a web of wires, an electronic charting software, and private vector charts and allow your seafarers to get familiar with all aspects of ecdis. Let them get confidence on it.
This comes only after someone knowledgeable shows them what they can do - something possible only through training (the usual mariner fear psychosis - why try anything new when the present system is running well. The last time the previous 2nd mate tried to change ecdis settings, the damn thing froze....)
After all, mariners will be making multi million dollar decisions based on information they get from the ecdis. What they get depends on where they look for it... If they do!
————————————————
Spoken like a true educationist. Good training along with hands-on experience is worth every penny spent.
————————————————
Myth 7 - We train our seafarers in ecdis by delivering excellent 40 hours of theory and working on one ecdis set. We are ready!
Reality - There is only one way of learning ecdis - by working on it with one's bare hands. Any training that does not let each seafarer work independently on ecdis (1 to 1 ratio) is money down the drain. Of course, the best way is to train the seafarer on board... But I wonder how many people can afford that
Ecdis's of different manufactures differ too much from each other for a seafarer to easily be able to find common / most useful features on the Ecdis on his own - at least for now, he / she certainly needs guidance.
————————————————
With standardization the need for type-specific training is reduced. For example every time you buy a new mobile phone doesn’t mean you have to go through a training course. For that matter the chart plotters are designed for fishermen who may not have had formal schooling.
————————————————
Myth 8 - Cannot afford an ecdis to give your seafarers hands on training now? You are doomed...!
Reality - The only way ecdis will prevent groundings is when your mariners are familiar with the uses and limitations of this beautiful piece of equipment, viz. Hands on familiarity. You don't need big bucks for that.
Companies like Furuno (navnet 3d), raymarine, Leica, etc. make robust ecdis units for between 2500 to 4500 us dollars. From a user point of view, they are as useful and dependable as any of the more expensive 10,000 dollar plus units. Plus they either come preloaded with charts or can be purchased real cheap (google earth nautical charting suite combines with noaa raster charts for just 50 usd).
That would be a more sensible way of spending money rather than spending it on ecdis training on an equipment which your seafarer is most probably not going to see on board!
————————————————
It is important to understand the pros and cons between various types of charts. Cheaper charts do not permit regular updating. You have to replace them every 6 to 12 months depending on how often the updated versions are brought out. And you have to pay for them every time you update.
————————————————
Now that IMO has approved Ecdis becoming mandatory from 2012 there is a lot of interest among shipping companies. People who had earlier burnt their hands over last minute fittings of AIS and LRIT do not wish to repeat the same mistakes. Unfortunately this has given rise to many myths.
Myth 1 - Ecdis will be mandatory on all ships from 2012 so hurry - time is running out!
Reality - Ecdis becomes manadatory from 2012 only for new ships. The timetable requires existing ships to fit it before the first Seq survey after 2014 (passenger) to 2018 (handy sized cargo). The timetable is (all July)-
New passenger and tankers - 2012
New cargo more than 10,000 GT - 2013
New cargo more than 3,000, old passenger - 2014
old tankers more than 3000 - 2015
old cargo more than 50,00 GT - 2016
old cargo more than 20,000 - 2017
Old cargo more than 10,000 - 2018
What this means is that a 2500 teu brand new container ship built today need not have an ecdis upto 2017 - that's a good 8 years and 2 computers away!
A tanker presently sailing (or for that matter even built next year) need not fit ecdis for the next 5 years! Now in computing, that IS a very long time. Remember 2004? Your 1 GB hard drive was considered state of art... today you cannot even buy a 1 GB flash!! More importantly, try running a large program on a 5 year old computer? (Yes - Ecdis programs are very heavy on memory and need lots of space - just like elephants!)
————————————————
True! Any futurist will tell you that 5 to 10 years is a generation away in a fast changing digital world. On top of that the S-57 ENC version 3.1 is frozen since 2000. By the time this version is implemented on SOLAS ships it will be already obsolete.
————————————————
Myth 2 - every ship will have ecdis by 2018
Reality - ships which will be scrapped within 2 yrs of the implementation date are exempted (good ole grandfather clause!).
In other words, a 1995 built cargo ship can be scrapped in 2018 without ever having to fit an ecdis.
————————————————
True! But then not fitting an ECDIS just because it is not mandatory is not in the right spirit. Ask a mariner who has got used to ECDIS/ECS. He will not like to go back to paper charts.
————————————————
Myth 3 - We have raster charts so we have an ecdis. We now comply with the Solas requirement!
Reality - Sorry guys, but IMO believes it is an ecdis only if you have official vector charts (you know - those electronic charts with weird numbers like FR136870) also known as ENC's. Your raster chart is good, but not good enough to be called an Ecdis.
————————————————
Myth 4 - Let's fit a Transas (substitute that for any private chart manufacturer of your choice... C-map, furuno, blah) ecdis - that way we get to comply with the IMO requirement.
Reality - Bad news again! Private vector charts are excellent in quality and reliability, but IMO does not believe them worthy of being called an ecdis.
And just for your information, which charting system (Transas Navisailor, Furuno, Maris, Telko) you install hardly matters. You could get any ecdis software and load ENC's on it. The company matters only as far as the operator friendliness of the interface is concerned (Or should that have been "unfriendliness" ?!)
————————————————
Due to all the hoopla around it is easy to get confused about ECDIS and the digital charts. For example Transas Navi-sailor is an ECDIS which can use Transas charts whereas C-Map is not an ECDIS. Similarly Furuno do not produce charts – they use different types of charts produced by C-Map, Navionics, ENCs etc.
Otherwise what Anshuman says is true, IMO only recognizes ENCs for ECDIS.
————————————————
Myth 5 - let us fit our ecdis now - that way we will be prepared when it becomes mandatory.
Reality - that "state of the art" computer you fit today will be useless 5 years later when ecdis really becomes mandatory for your ship (Moore’s law). It will be terribly slow and outdated. In other words, you anyway would buy a new ecdis.
————————————————
Maybe. But just because something will become obsolete five years from now doesn’t mean that you sit tight.
Myth 6 - Train my men in ecdis? Bah! Humbug!
Reality - Much as this reminds me of Scrooge (may Charles Dicken's soul rest in peace), it is well worth the moolah to spend on a good robust computer, a technician who does not leave a web of wires, an electronic charting software, and private vector charts and allow your seafarers to get familiar with all aspects of ecdis. Let them get confidence on it.
This comes only after someone knowledgeable shows them what they can do - something possible only through training (the usual mariner fear psychosis - why try anything new when the present system is running well. The last time the previous 2nd mate tried to change ecdis settings, the damn thing froze....)
After all, mariners will be making multi million dollar decisions based on information they get from the ecdis. What they get depends on where they look for it... If they do!
————————————————
Spoken like a true educationist. Good training along with hands-on experience is worth every penny spent.
————————————————
Myth 7 - We train our seafarers in ecdis by delivering excellent 40 hours of theory and working on one ecdis set. We are ready!
Reality - There is only one way of learning ecdis - by working on it with one's bare hands. Any training that does not let each seafarer work independently on ecdis (1 to 1 ratio) is money down the drain. Of course, the best way is to train the seafarer on board... But I wonder how many people can afford that
Ecdis's of different manufactures differ too much from each other for a seafarer to easily be able to find common / most useful features on the Ecdis on his own - at least for now, he / she certainly needs guidance.
————————————————
With standardization the need for type-specific training is reduced. For example every time you buy a new mobile phone doesn’t mean you have to go through a training course. For that matter the chart plotters are designed for fishermen who may not have had formal schooling.
————————————————
Myth 8 - Cannot afford an ecdis to give your seafarers hands on training now? You are doomed...!
Reality - The only way ecdis will prevent groundings is when your mariners are familiar with the uses and limitations of this beautiful piece of equipment, viz. Hands on familiarity. You don't need big bucks for that.
Companies like Furuno (navnet 3d), raymarine, Leica, etc. make robust ecdis units for between 2500 to 4500 us dollars. From a user point of view, they are as useful and dependable as any of the more expensive 10,000 dollar plus units. Plus they either come preloaded with charts or can be purchased real cheap (google earth nautical charting suite combines with noaa raster charts for just 50 usd).
That would be a more sensible way of spending money rather than spending it on ecdis training on an equipment which your seafarer is most probably not going to see on board!
————————————————
It is important to understand the pros and cons between various types of charts. Cheaper charts do not permit regular updating. You have to replace them every 6 to 12 months depending on how often the updated versions are brought out. And you have to pay for them every time you update.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A ‘Wreckless’ Trip
In 1773 a ship set sail from England to India. As the Suez Canal wasn’t yet built, she had a long passage of ten thousand miles, via the Verde islands off the West Coast of Africa, thence around the Cape of Good Hope to head straight up north-east to Calicut, India.
Navigation was a tricky task those days. No GPS. No Loran or Decca. Though Mr. Harrison had just brought out the chronometer, it hadn’t yet being made a standard accessory on all ships. Without a chronometer to keep accurate time at sea, ascertaining the longitude was grossly imprecise.
After rounding the cape the ship was cruising to the north in the Indian Ocean, waiting to reach the right latitude before altering course eastwards towards the Indian coast. She was in a hurry to make landfall before the monsoon arrived. All of a sudden in the early hours the ship was rudely woken up to the dreadful sound of its running aground onto a reef. She thus became instantly famous by lending her name to the yet uncharted reef in the Laccadive Islands. This reef came to be known as the Byramgore reef.
From the Horsburgh records we know Byramgore was carrying a treasure on board. We still don’t know what kind of treasure it was. But it was important enough for the ship to leave behind two of its crew while the rest left for Calicut on a cutter, two hundred miles to the East. A rescue to recover the men and the treasure, soon thereafter, had to be postponed due to bad weather. The team could only return after two weeks. By then the two men had perished and the attempt to recover the treasure failed because the monsoon had set in.
The next year a fresh attempt was made to recover the treasure. But the wreck was decimated in the monsoon and had disappeared into the deeps. For the next two centuries the world forgot about it.
In 1989 I was on a hydrographic ship as the senior hydrographer under a dynamic captain who had just taken over command. We were tasked to locate the wreck of Byramgore and perhaps recover the unknown treasure. From the records we knew she had iron cannons fitted on board. They were meant to fight against piracy. The Somali pirates were a scourge even in those days.
We reckoned that the iron cannons were most likely to survive the passage of time and expected our sonars to find them.
Dr. S.R.Rao, an eminent marine archaeologist was on board. Rao had gained fame after discovering the undersea city off Dwarka in Gujarat. This was the fabled abode of Lord Krishna in Hindu mythology.
Besides our regular survey equipment which included side scan sonars, we carried naval divers equipped with underwater cameras,
Byramgore reef uncovers only during the low tide. Ground control proved to be a difficult task. We placed a trisponder (microwave ranger) on top of a lighthouse on the islet Bitra Pār, 25 miles away, to obtain one position line. Two more trisponders were rigged up on the Byramgore reef itself on raised poles. The three position lines gave us the required fix. It wasn’t a perfect arrangement but it would meet our need.
We were there for three days. All the four survey boats along with the ship carried out a typically high density survey to search for the wreck. Our team of divers and surveyors went on the reef during high water to physically search for evidences of the wreck. We did find a few interesting artifacts but it was disappointing that we couldn’t find any major remains of the wreck, cannons or treasure.
We noticed a rich colony of submerged corals. There were fishes galore. Away from the destructive human interference the natural fauna thrived.
The undersea terrain of this reef was typical of a coral atoll. It rose straight up from depths of 1000 metres. The gradient of the seabed was extremely steep. Our team analysed that the wreck could had rolled down on this steep gradient deep into the abyss.
Later on our way back to Bombay as I was poring through the echo-rolls and other data in the survey chart-room I got a message from the ward-room.
‘The bar is open.”
Opening the bar at sea was a bit of a surprise. The PMC, short for President of the Mess Committee, was a jolly old fellow and enjoyed his tipple. In the wardroom they were all there – scientists, divers, surveyors, except the Captain who is generally kept out of such gatherings to make the atmosphere informal. So that people can let go of their inhibitions.
Accompanied by loud laughter, the PMC raised a toast to ‘a wreck-less trip’. The term wreck-less was actually aimed towards the Captain who was quite reckless in his approach. I doubt whether his records would pass the safety audit of a commercial management.
Fallout of the Byramgore tragedy was that the region around Laccadive islands came to be perceived as unsafe. Even today the Admiralty manual Ocean Passages of the World recommend ships coming from Dondra head, south of Sri Lanka and bound for the Persian Gulf to first sail north to a point Lat. 13deg N, Long. 73deg E; before striking out westwards to the Strait of Hormuz. Thus bypassing this group of islands.
Navigation was a tricky task those days. No GPS. No Loran or Decca. Though Mr. Harrison had just brought out the chronometer, it hadn’t yet being made a standard accessory on all ships. Without a chronometer to keep accurate time at sea, ascertaining the longitude was grossly imprecise.
After rounding the cape the ship was cruising to the north in the Indian Ocean, waiting to reach the right latitude before altering course eastwards towards the Indian coast. She was in a hurry to make landfall before the monsoon arrived. All of a sudden in the early hours the ship was rudely woken up to the dreadful sound of its running aground onto a reef. She thus became instantly famous by lending her name to the yet uncharted reef in the Laccadive Islands. This reef came to be known as the Byramgore reef.
From the Horsburgh records we know Byramgore was carrying a treasure on board. We still don’t know what kind of treasure it was. But it was important enough for the ship to leave behind two of its crew while the rest left for Calicut on a cutter, two hundred miles to the East. A rescue to recover the men and the treasure, soon thereafter, had to be postponed due to bad weather. The team could only return after two weeks. By then the two men had perished and the attempt to recover the treasure failed because the monsoon had set in.
The next year a fresh attempt was made to recover the treasure. But the wreck was decimated in the monsoon and had disappeared into the deeps. For the next two centuries the world forgot about it.
In 1989 I was on a hydrographic ship as the senior hydrographer under a dynamic captain who had just taken over command. We were tasked to locate the wreck of Byramgore and perhaps recover the unknown treasure. From the records we knew she had iron cannons fitted on board. They were meant to fight against piracy. The Somali pirates were a scourge even in those days.
We reckoned that the iron cannons were most likely to survive the passage of time and expected our sonars to find them.
Dr. S.R.Rao, an eminent marine archaeologist was on board. Rao had gained fame after discovering the undersea city off Dwarka in Gujarat. This was the fabled abode of Lord Krishna in Hindu mythology.
Besides our regular survey equipment which included side scan sonars, we carried naval divers equipped with underwater cameras,
Byramgore reef uncovers only during the low tide. Ground control proved to be a difficult task. We placed a trisponder (microwave ranger) on top of a lighthouse on the islet Bitra Pār, 25 miles away, to obtain one position line. Two more trisponders were rigged up on the Byramgore reef itself on raised poles. The three position lines gave us the required fix. It wasn’t a perfect arrangement but it would meet our need.
We were there for three days. All the four survey boats along with the ship carried out a typically high density survey to search for the wreck. Our team of divers and surveyors went on the reef during high water to physically search for evidences of the wreck. We did find a few interesting artifacts but it was disappointing that we couldn’t find any major remains of the wreck, cannons or treasure.
We noticed a rich colony of submerged corals. There were fishes galore. Away from the destructive human interference the natural fauna thrived.
The undersea terrain of this reef was typical of a coral atoll. It rose straight up from depths of 1000 metres. The gradient of the seabed was extremely steep. Our team analysed that the wreck could had rolled down on this steep gradient deep into the abyss.
Later on our way back to Bombay as I was poring through the echo-rolls and other data in the survey chart-room I got a message from the ward-room.
‘The bar is open.”
Opening the bar at sea was a bit of a surprise. The PMC, short for President of the Mess Committee, was a jolly old fellow and enjoyed his tipple. In the wardroom they were all there – scientists, divers, surveyors, except the Captain who is generally kept out of such gatherings to make the atmosphere informal. So that people can let go of their inhibitions.
Accompanied by loud laughter, the PMC raised a toast to ‘a wreck-less trip’. The term wreck-less was actually aimed towards the Captain who was quite reckless in his approach. I doubt whether his records would pass the safety audit of a commercial management.
Fallout of the Byramgore tragedy was that the region around Laccadive islands came to be perceived as unsafe. Even today the Admiralty manual Ocean Passages of the World recommend ships coming from Dondra head, south of Sri Lanka and bound for the Persian Gulf to first sail north to a point Lat. 13deg N, Long. 73deg E; before striking out westwards to the Strait of Hormuz. Thus bypassing this group of islands.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Living with Stress
“I’ve got some bad news for you.”
Shit! I thought. I was speaking to my best customer on the phone. What could be the bad news? Did I lose some business? I was tense.
“Actually, I should had called you up before”, the marine superintendent continued.
“By the way, thanks for the nice calendar. There is another one you sent for my colleague. It’s here with me. The only thing is that he is no more.”
“No more?” I repeated stupidly.
“Ya. We were in Italy last week. To board a ship out there. He had a massive heart attack. Just 32 years old. Clean habits. Never smoked. Has a wife and a small kid. I don’t know why. He died on the spot.”
Oh God! I knew him well and he was in my select list of customers. At least I didn’t lose any business. I immediately felt remorseful. Here I was getting this horrible piece of news and my brain was still stuck into business.
Shippies have a tough job. There’s too much of stress out there. Even in normal times with the reduced complement there’s too much to do. The extra pay they receive is really not enough to compensate. Recent developments of Somali piracy, criminalization of sea-farers, and now with the recession looming ominously in the horizon; there is a tremendous amount of stress in shipping.
Many years back a second mate who took over the ship’s accounts from me died of a heart attack.He was actually an ex Radio Officer who had switched over to deck duties.
In the STCW 95 days the IMO had permitted reduced safe-manning standards. In the process they had done away with ROs. The rationale was that the Master and Second Mate could perform those duties in addition to their own. The existing ROs had two options – either to fade away or change their jobs. This particular RO, like many others, studied for competency exams and transitioned into the deck stream.
I didn’t know him too well. Except that I had handed over the pay roll accounts to him. As I was signing off from the tanker he gave me an envelope containing, I think, a letter and USD 500.
“Please give it to my wife.”
I didn’t give him any receipt. It was unlikely that I would ever meet him again. Simply trust. That the packet will reach safely to his wife at Mumbai.
In the weeks that followed I was busy with yet another bunch of maritime courses. I met his wife at the main VT station. In the busy public place we spoke about the ship and I handed over the envelope to her. Then we each went away pursuing our own priorities in life. I had forgotten about the whole thing. Till one day I got a call from the panic-stricken wife.
“He’s no more.”
“Who? What happened?” I asked.
“This is Gloria here. My husband died yesterday. The company called up.
Oh God!
“Give me your address. We’ll be there.”
Later in the afternoon my wife and I found ourselves in an old part of Bandra. There was a quaint building. There were two kids playing in the tiny yard in front of the house.
This cannot be the place. I thought to myself. The place doesn’t seem as if a disaster has just occurred in the family.
But it was the right place. Mom had not been able to break the terrible news to the kids.
We remained in touch for some time. It took a few months for the compensation to come. The company was extremely cordial about it. Unlike some other shipping companies who are uncaring and unapproachable. And who give a bad name to the entire industry. As such most mariners work on contracts. We do not have the employee-owner relationship in the true sense.
I called Gloria up that Christmas. And then for another year. But, as it happens in life, I have lost touch with them.
Shit! I thought. I was speaking to my best customer on the phone. What could be the bad news? Did I lose some business? I was tense.
“Actually, I should had called you up before”, the marine superintendent continued.
“By the way, thanks for the nice calendar. There is another one you sent for my colleague. It’s here with me. The only thing is that he is no more.”
“No more?” I repeated stupidly.
“Ya. We were in Italy last week. To board a ship out there. He had a massive heart attack. Just 32 years old. Clean habits. Never smoked. Has a wife and a small kid. I don’t know why. He died on the spot.”
Oh God! I knew him well and he was in my select list of customers. At least I didn’t lose any business. I immediately felt remorseful. Here I was getting this horrible piece of news and my brain was still stuck into business.
Shippies have a tough job. There’s too much of stress out there. Even in normal times with the reduced complement there’s too much to do. The extra pay they receive is really not enough to compensate. Recent developments of Somali piracy, criminalization of sea-farers, and now with the recession looming ominously in the horizon; there is a tremendous amount of stress in shipping.
Many years back a second mate who took over the ship’s accounts from me died of a heart attack.He was actually an ex Radio Officer who had switched over to deck duties.
In the STCW 95 days the IMO had permitted reduced safe-manning standards. In the process they had done away with ROs. The rationale was that the Master and Second Mate could perform those duties in addition to their own. The existing ROs had two options – either to fade away or change their jobs. This particular RO, like many others, studied for competency exams and transitioned into the deck stream.
I didn’t know him too well. Except that I had handed over the pay roll accounts to him. As I was signing off from the tanker he gave me an envelope containing, I think, a letter and USD 500.
“Please give it to my wife.”
I didn’t give him any receipt. It was unlikely that I would ever meet him again. Simply trust. That the packet will reach safely to his wife at Mumbai.
In the weeks that followed I was busy with yet another bunch of maritime courses. I met his wife at the main VT station. In the busy public place we spoke about the ship and I handed over the envelope to her. Then we each went away pursuing our own priorities in life. I had forgotten about the whole thing. Till one day I got a call from the panic-stricken wife.
“He’s no more.”
“Who? What happened?” I asked.
“This is Gloria here. My husband died yesterday. The company called up.
Oh God!
“Give me your address. We’ll be there.”
Later in the afternoon my wife and I found ourselves in an old part of Bandra. There was a quaint building. There were two kids playing in the tiny yard in front of the house.
This cannot be the place. I thought to myself. The place doesn’t seem as if a disaster has just occurred in the family.
But it was the right place. Mom had not been able to break the terrible news to the kids.
We remained in touch for some time. It took a few months for the compensation to come. The company was extremely cordial about it. Unlike some other shipping companies who are uncaring and unapproachable. And who give a bad name to the entire industry. As such most mariners work on contracts. We do not have the employee-owner relationship in the true sense.
I called Gloria up that Christmas. And then for another year. But, as it happens in life, I have lost touch with them.
Friday, April 24, 2009
End of a Season
The summer is on its last legs. Strong pre-monsoonal winds have started, strong enough to prevent boat-sounding. My son has reached Australia for a month’s holiday and is as good as flown the coop. The note-book that I am writing upon is almost over.
I feel as if a season has ended and I’m stepping into a new one. I feel like making some new resolutions. Talking about resolutions why can’t we be a little more honest about it? Let’s see - in the next one year I would like to:
- become filthy rich by hook or by crook
- develop a poison pen and write a spicy little book
- lose 10 kg and sport a charming lady-killer smile
- bed that luscious thing next door who is bent upon, literally, to attract attention
Keep dreaming man!
Our survey season is almost over. Now we have to plan to tide over the monsoons. If there is one thing I am scared of it is the weather, or rather the bad weather. Nothing in this world makes a man more god-fearing than to witness nature in all its fury.
I have personally experienced two storms on the high seas. The first time it was in 1990 when a particularly severe cyclone emerged in the Bay of Bengal and crossed the East Coast of India south of Visakhapatnam. This super-cyclone had two eyes. The second one was in 2000 when our ageing Bulk Carrier rode out a Force 9 gale in China Sea.
In May 1990 I was on a hydrographic vessel when we sailed out from Vizag for the survey grounds. We entered Madras to pick up men and material. That is where we learnt on the TV that a cyclone was brewing at sea. Weather forecasting was primitive. As the cyclone was expected to pass right over our port we were asked to leave the endangered harbour and ride out the storm at sea.
The moment our ship crossed the breakwater into the open sea we faced mountainous waves and gale-winds. As we put distance between us and the coast the seas became worse. We applied the Buys Ballot Law - Face the wind, 10 to 12 points on the starboard is the eye of the storm. In the northern hemisphere, that is. We figured out that our vessel was in the dangerous semi-circle, but we couldn’t do much thereafter. The wheel got stuck in a particular position and the vessel’s speed dropped from 15 to 2 knots due to the wind and sea.
The sea state was phenomenal. I don't remember getting any help from the weather messages. In fact it was the other way round. The ship was passing weather parameters to shore authorities. The next four days were the worst in my life. The waves became higher and higher, sea water started dripping through every pore in the ship. The engines stalled due to loss of suction. The main switchboard caught fire due to short-circuit. We were forced to adopt the ‘do-nothing’ theory in which the vessel shuts off the engines and allows free play of the waves and the winds. I guess this is what saved us ultimately.
In that storm we lost all the four boats. The radar flew off. We suffered a lot of damages and barely managed to escape with our lives. I became very religious after this event.
The second time I encountered bad weather, I was a little wiser but still helpless in the storm. The speed of a vessel in bad weather drops drastically and any action you take seems futile. This time we got better weather messages but to us it still seemed as if we were getting yesterday's weather. Our old ship developed some leakages. We were fortunate to steer the ship safely out and bring her into the port.
I feel as if a season has ended and I’m stepping into a new one. I feel like making some new resolutions. Talking about resolutions why can’t we be a little more honest about it? Let’s see - in the next one year I would like to:
- become filthy rich by hook or by crook
- develop a poison pen and write a spicy little book
- lose 10 kg and sport a charming lady-killer smile
- bed that luscious thing next door who is bent upon, literally, to attract attention
Keep dreaming man!
Our survey season is almost over. Now we have to plan to tide over the monsoons. If there is one thing I am scared of it is the weather, or rather the bad weather. Nothing in this world makes a man more god-fearing than to witness nature in all its fury.
I have personally experienced two storms on the high seas. The first time it was in 1990 when a particularly severe cyclone emerged in the Bay of Bengal and crossed the East Coast of India south of Visakhapatnam. This super-cyclone had two eyes. The second one was in 2000 when our ageing Bulk Carrier rode out a Force 9 gale in China Sea.
In May 1990 I was on a hydrographic vessel when we sailed out from Vizag for the survey grounds. We entered Madras to pick up men and material. That is where we learnt on the TV that a cyclone was brewing at sea. Weather forecasting was primitive. As the cyclone was expected to pass right over our port we were asked to leave the endangered harbour and ride out the storm at sea.
The moment our ship crossed the breakwater into the open sea we faced mountainous waves and gale-winds. As we put distance between us and the coast the seas became worse. We applied the Buys Ballot Law - Face the wind, 10 to 12 points on the starboard is the eye of the storm. In the northern hemisphere, that is. We figured out that our vessel was in the dangerous semi-circle, but we couldn’t do much thereafter. The wheel got stuck in a particular position and the vessel’s speed dropped from 15 to 2 knots due to the wind and sea.
The sea state was phenomenal. I don't remember getting any help from the weather messages. In fact it was the other way round. The ship was passing weather parameters to shore authorities. The next four days were the worst in my life. The waves became higher and higher, sea water started dripping through every pore in the ship. The engines stalled due to loss of suction. The main switchboard caught fire due to short-circuit. We were forced to adopt the ‘do-nothing’ theory in which the vessel shuts off the engines and allows free play of the waves and the winds. I guess this is what saved us ultimately.
In that storm we lost all the four boats. The radar flew off. We suffered a lot of damages and barely managed to escape with our lives. I became very religious after this event.
The second time I encountered bad weather, I was a little wiser but still helpless in the storm. The speed of a vessel in bad weather drops drastically and any action you take seems futile. This time we got better weather messages but to us it still seemed as if we were getting yesterday's weather. Our old ship developed some leakages. We were fortunate to steer the ship safely out and bring her into the port.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Keeping the Charts Up-to-Date
As a navigating officer one of my main tasks was to correct the charts. I was guided by the Admiralty publication NP 294 How to Correct Your Charts the Admiralty Way.
My tools consisted of a parallel ruler, divider and a set of plastic protractor and scale. I had a hack-saw blade to draw zigzag lines on the chart representing submarine cables.
The chart corrections came in the form of Notices to Mariners (NtMs). Ntms have evolved from the time ships started sailing with paper charts. In the early years a mariner depended on important navigational information passed by word of mouth amongst fellow mariners.
At some point of time, probably a hundred years back some Hydrographic Offices (HOs) started collating this information. They verified the information before distributing them to the ships through print. This lent an authenticity to the information.
Since then NtMs have become an integral part of charts and publications required to be maintained on board for safety of navigation.
I remember, whenever we entered a port after a long voyage, there would invariably be a stack of four to five weeks worth of NtM packs waiting for me.
Most times the ship would anchor off some big port and would remain there for days till we got an available berth alongside. The anchorage is the best time to correct the charts. I would spend many hours bent over a chart table to clear the backlog. There was a time when I used croquils dipped in black or magenta indelible inks. Later I used Pilot Hi-tech 0.5mm pens. One could practice draughtsman ship with these pens. I would painstakingly draw the figures and shapes from INT1 on the charts.
Once in a while I would look up and watch the enticing skyline of Singapore from the bridge windows. Or look around our anchored ship to find a pleasure boat drifting past rocked by an amorous couple in it. The thought would cross my mind that perhaps I had missed out on life imprisoned in a ship with nothing to do except correct charts whilst the rest of the world enjoyed.
Manual updating of charts is a very tedious and monotonous job. Now with electronic charts on the verge of replacing paper charts, the need for manual updating is going to disappear for ever. This tedious job will be taken over by the machines. A task which used to take many hours can now be completed within a few minutes with the click of a button.
Automatic updating is not only a great time-saver but has also removed a major source of human error. They tell us that eighty percent of all errors are caused due to the human factor.
How often do marine incidents happen because of uncorrected charts? A difficult question to answer; but one can trawl through various sites on the net which lists marine accidents and get an idea. There are a host of sites such as IMO's GISIS database, MAIB and BSU. Or one can commission mac@maritimeaccident.org to do the research.
There is an interesting site called ‘Centre for Tankship Excellence’ created by a naval architect, Jack Devanney. As a tankerman he felt ‘the oil tanker industry had lost its way’. And so he must do something about it.
Here there is a database of tanker casualties that is openly available to the public. We can list tanker incidents caused due to navigation errors specifically due to bad charts as a result of the ship’s fault. It means either the ship did not update the charts or were not carrying the appropriate charts.
Incidents such as Globtik Sun and Sanko Harvest were caused due to uncorrected charts. If we go by the philosophy of the accident pyramid, then for every reported incident there are a hundred more which went unreported.
With automatic updates the Master gets the corrections when he wants. For example just before entering a harbour or transiting through a narrow channel. One doesn’t have to wait for the physical arrival of the NtM packs by post.
In this age of reduced manning on commercial ships automatic updating helps the Master to regain the services of the second mate for other equally important tasks required to run the ship.
My tools consisted of a parallel ruler, divider and a set of plastic protractor and scale. I had a hack-saw blade to draw zigzag lines on the chart representing submarine cables.
The chart corrections came in the form of Notices to Mariners (NtMs). Ntms have evolved from the time ships started sailing with paper charts. In the early years a mariner depended on important navigational information passed by word of mouth amongst fellow mariners.
At some point of time, probably a hundred years back some Hydrographic Offices (HOs) started collating this information. They verified the information before distributing them to the ships through print. This lent an authenticity to the information.
Since then NtMs have become an integral part of charts and publications required to be maintained on board for safety of navigation.
I remember, whenever we entered a port after a long voyage, there would invariably be a stack of four to five weeks worth of NtM packs waiting for me.
Most times the ship would anchor off some big port and would remain there for days till we got an available berth alongside. The anchorage is the best time to correct the charts. I would spend many hours bent over a chart table to clear the backlog. There was a time when I used croquils dipped in black or magenta indelible inks. Later I used Pilot Hi-tech 0.5mm pens. One could practice draughtsman ship with these pens. I would painstakingly draw the figures and shapes from INT1 on the charts.
Once in a while I would look up and watch the enticing skyline of Singapore from the bridge windows. Or look around our anchored ship to find a pleasure boat drifting past rocked by an amorous couple in it. The thought would cross my mind that perhaps I had missed out on life imprisoned in a ship with nothing to do except correct charts whilst the rest of the world enjoyed.
Manual updating of charts is a very tedious and monotonous job. Now with electronic charts on the verge of replacing paper charts, the need for manual updating is going to disappear for ever. This tedious job will be taken over by the machines. A task which used to take many hours can now be completed within a few minutes with the click of a button.
Automatic updating is not only a great time-saver but has also removed a major source of human error. They tell us that eighty percent of all errors are caused due to the human factor.
How often do marine incidents happen because of uncorrected charts? A difficult question to answer; but one can trawl through various sites on the net which lists marine accidents and get an idea. There are a host of sites such as IMO's GISIS database, MAIB and BSU. Or one can commission mac@maritimeaccident.org to do the research.
There is an interesting site called ‘Centre for Tankship Excellence’ created by a naval architect, Jack Devanney. As a tankerman he felt ‘the oil tanker industry had lost its way’. And so he must do something about it.
Here there is a database of tanker casualties that is openly available to the public. We can list tanker incidents caused due to navigation errors specifically due to bad charts as a result of the ship’s fault. It means either the ship did not update the charts or were not carrying the appropriate charts.
Incidents such as Globtik Sun and Sanko Harvest were caused due to uncorrected charts. If we go by the philosophy of the accident pyramid, then for every reported incident there are a hundred more which went unreported.
With automatic updates the Master gets the corrections when he wants. For example just before entering a harbour or transiting through a narrow channel. One doesn’t have to wait for the physical arrival of the NtM packs by post.
In this age of reduced manning on commercial ships automatic updating helps the Master to regain the services of the second mate for other equally important tasks required to run the ship.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Predicting The Future of Charts
Trying to predict the future is difficult depending on what you are trying to predict.
There are things which only experts in that field can predict with accuracy. There are people in the know – the insiders, who can predict what’s going to happen because they are privy to information which is not available to others.
Of course, there are a few certainties in life. For example it’s certain that in future you will become older.
A few near certainties. Example a particular tree will grow taller after a certain time.
But there are some other predictions which are tricky. The extent of development in technology and how our lives will be affected by it is one example which comes to my mind readily.
For quite some time now I have been preparing a paper on ‘Navigation Charts of the Future’. The future here is mostly technology related.
For last so many decades the appearance of a chart has remained almost unchanged. Of course its content was regularly being refurbished based on the new data that was being collected. Ironically, technical advances in this field were being used so as to ensure that the collected data was displayed in the same old fashion as it had been for so long. To give to the mariners the image of a chart they had got used to.
Old tars don’t like to change. They cling to their old-fashioned views and guard all attempts to change with time. No wonder the age-old sea customs, ceremonies and other quirks continue to remain for centuries.
And so, the paper chart which the old chart-makers had foisted on us centuries back remains with us even today.
Ten years from now – will this paper chart continue to remain? Here I am willing to stick my neck out and confidently say – No!
After all the IMO has already announced the ECDIS to be made mandatory on SOLAS ships. Starting from 2012 the implementation will commence and will cover all types of ships by 2018. It will finally push the paper chart into oblivion. To become an artifact displayed in the maritime museum as something which lasted almost forever.
But why is it taking so long to replace the paper charts? Five to ten years from today in this fast changing world is almost a generation away.
It is because the authorities have twisted the regulations in such a way that the replacement of paper charts can be only the official Electronic Navigation Charts ENCs in the S-57 format. ENCs are not favoured by most ship-operators for reasons such as faulty design and high cost.
Regulations insist that ENCs must be issued under the authority of a government. Which government?
Sovereign nations that have been vested with the responsibility of charting their own waters. There are around hundred odd nations in the world which fall in this category. Most of them are well… governments. Not competitive. Not sensitive to the end-user. And not commercially inclined. They have their advantages though. The purity of data collections is not compromised due to commercial compulsions. But a government does not like to change along with technology.
Trying to predict what will happen to the charts of commercial shipping is easy because they come under the IMO-SOLAS regime. The difficult part is trying to predict the future of non-SOLAS class vessels. They are the ones which are driven purely by market forces. The growth of technology here is about to explode.
Here I will quote the futurist Ray Kurzweil. In his book ‘The Singularity is Near’ he mentions that the pace of change of our human created technology is accelerating and its powers are expanding at an exponential pace. Exponential pace is deceptive. It starts out almost imperceptibly and then explodes with unexpected fury.
One of the startling predictions that Ray has made is that due to advances in nanotechnology we will soon be able to produce solar panels which will give us substantial amount of energy from the sun itself.
Imagine what will happen to the portable charting systems. Its size and weight will reduce drastically. Hence the power required to run these systems will reduce. On the other hand the computing power will progressively increase. In the next five years yachters will most likely carry an e-chart folded in the pocket; run on powerful portable solar cells. Satellite positions will be available on the mobile. They will have millimetric accuracy when they are in the range of mobile towers equipped with GPS sensors. Once on board the yachter will proceed to unfold the e-chart and tack it onto a convenient bulkhead. Wireless interfaces with the mobile and with other sensors like AIS and ARPA fitted in the vessel will provide all necessary data.
Voila! A full-fledged charting system is now available at his/hers disposal.
There are things which only experts in that field can predict with accuracy. There are people in the know – the insiders, who can predict what’s going to happen because they are privy to information which is not available to others.
Of course, there are a few certainties in life. For example it’s certain that in future you will become older.
A few near certainties. Example a particular tree will grow taller after a certain time.
But there are some other predictions which are tricky. The extent of development in technology and how our lives will be affected by it is one example which comes to my mind readily.
For quite some time now I have been preparing a paper on ‘Navigation Charts of the Future’. The future here is mostly technology related.
For last so many decades the appearance of a chart has remained almost unchanged. Of course its content was regularly being refurbished based on the new data that was being collected. Ironically, technical advances in this field were being used so as to ensure that the collected data was displayed in the same old fashion as it had been for so long. To give to the mariners the image of a chart they had got used to.
Old tars don’t like to change. They cling to their old-fashioned views and guard all attempts to change with time. No wonder the age-old sea customs, ceremonies and other quirks continue to remain for centuries.
And so, the paper chart which the old chart-makers had foisted on us centuries back remains with us even today.
Ten years from now – will this paper chart continue to remain? Here I am willing to stick my neck out and confidently say – No!
After all the IMO has already announced the ECDIS to be made mandatory on SOLAS ships. Starting from 2012 the implementation will commence and will cover all types of ships by 2018. It will finally push the paper chart into oblivion. To become an artifact displayed in the maritime museum as something which lasted almost forever.
But why is it taking so long to replace the paper charts? Five to ten years from today in this fast changing world is almost a generation away.
It is because the authorities have twisted the regulations in such a way that the replacement of paper charts can be only the official Electronic Navigation Charts ENCs in the S-57 format. ENCs are not favoured by most ship-operators for reasons such as faulty design and high cost.
Regulations insist that ENCs must be issued under the authority of a government. Which government?
Sovereign nations that have been vested with the responsibility of charting their own waters. There are around hundred odd nations in the world which fall in this category. Most of them are well… governments. Not competitive. Not sensitive to the end-user. And not commercially inclined. They have their advantages though. The purity of data collections is not compromised due to commercial compulsions. But a government does not like to change along with technology.
Trying to predict what will happen to the charts of commercial shipping is easy because they come under the IMO-SOLAS regime. The difficult part is trying to predict the future of non-SOLAS class vessels. They are the ones which are driven purely by market forces. The growth of technology here is about to explode.
Here I will quote the futurist Ray Kurzweil. In his book ‘The Singularity is Near’ he mentions that the pace of change of our human created technology is accelerating and its powers are expanding at an exponential pace. Exponential pace is deceptive. It starts out almost imperceptibly and then explodes with unexpected fury.
One of the startling predictions that Ray has made is that due to advances in nanotechnology we will soon be able to produce solar panels which will give us substantial amount of energy from the sun itself.
Imagine what will happen to the portable charting systems. Its size and weight will reduce drastically. Hence the power required to run these systems will reduce. On the other hand the computing power will progressively increase. In the next five years yachters will most likely carry an e-chart folded in the pocket; run on powerful portable solar cells. Satellite positions will be available on the mobile. They will have millimetric accuracy when they are in the range of mobile towers equipped with GPS sensors. Once on board the yachter will proceed to unfold the e-chart and tack it onto a convenient bulkhead. Wireless interfaces with the mobile and with other sensors like AIS and ARPA fitted in the vessel will provide all necessary data.
Voila! A full-fledged charting system is now available at his/hers disposal.
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