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Be in Command by Knowing These ECDIS Safety Settings - MySeaTime
Be in Command by Knowing These ECDIS Safety Settings - MySeaTime
ECDIS has been the talk of the town. On every inspection on board,
compliance with ECDIS procedures has been top agenda for the
inspectors.
It will not be a new thing to say that good passage planning is the
key for safer navigation. ECDIS now being a part of passage planning
contributes to the safe navigation.
But what if the settings on the ECDIS are not what it should be.
Wrong settings pose even bigger threat to the safe naviagtion than
the uncorrected ENCs.
In this post I will discuss about the what and how of all the settings
on ECDIS.
Safety Settings
It is all in the name. Safety settings sets the safety parameters
according to the ship’s static as well as dynamic particulars. That is a
change ECDIS brought from the traditional paper charts. For
example see this chart and I will ask one question.
So you see, the colors on the paper chart may not represent the
shallow waters for all the ships. But on the ECDIS these can be set by
the user according to their draft and other parameters.
The contours are in the value of 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and so on.
:
Shallow contour value need to be used to tell ECDIS what is the value
of shallow waters for our draft. This is the value of depth below
which it is definite for the vessel to get aground.
The shallow contour value need to be equal to or more than the draft
of the vessel.
Let us say the vessel’s draft is 9 meters and we enter the shallow
contour value of 9 meter. The ECDIS will display 10 meter contour
line as the shallow contour. If 10 meter contour is not available, it will
take next contour as the shallow contour for the vessel.
The shallow contour lets the navigator know that between 0 meter
depth and the shallow contour, the area is not navigable at all.
I assume you know the UKC calculation method and can easily arrive
to the conclusion that this vessel would need 11 meters of water
depth to navigate.
I have taken here the simplest of the case. In reality you need to
follow your company’s UKC calculation sheet to arrive at the depths
required to comply with UKC policy. This may take various factor
such as sea conditions, increase in draft due to rolling, sea water
density and the tide.
But the idea is to know the minimum depth of water at which you will
comply with the company’s UKC policy.
Some companies may give simpler instructions for the safety setting
in the navigational manual. One form of these instruction can be
based upon the draft of the vessel.
:
When safety contour value is entered in the ECDIS, it gives a safety
contour line depths above which would meet the UKC requirement.
So far we have only been talking about contours. We have not said
anything about the actual safe depth. Safety depth is the only depth
setting on ECDIS.
Safety depth is the depth of the water we can safely navigate upon.
And it might sound repetitive but it is the depth that satisfies the
UKC policy of the company.
ii) The depths below safety contour may not always be non-
navigable.
Now the depths between 11 and 15 meters are navigable for us but it
will show below the safety contour. So in the area between shallow
contour and safety contour, safety depth will show the depth on
which we can navigate.
Let us say we set the safety depth to 16 meters. On the ECDIS, all
depths below 16 metes will be shown more prominently (in Black
compared to others in grey color).
:
Deep water contour
This is a relative term and user is free to set as per what he believes
could be deep water for him. For me deep water could be 50 meters
while for others it could be 30 meters or 100 meters.
But there can be number of ways we can use the deep water contour
setting.
For example you can set the deep water contour to show the
maximum anchoring depths where vessel can drop anchor. So if your
vessel can anchor maximum 105 meters depth, you can set the deep
water contour to 100 meters.
Or if you are about to do ballast water exchange, you can set the
deep water contour to 200 meters. This way you can easily see just
by the color on the ECDIS if you are in depths where ballast
exchange can be done.
:
The deep water contour setting can be used in number ways and
navigators can use this to the way they wish to use it.
Now let us see how the ECDIS screen will look like with all these
settings. So let us say vessel’s draft is 9 meters and vessel require 14
meters depth to comply with company’s UKC policy.
And when I enter all these numbers in the ECDIS, this is how a ECDIS
screen would display these settings.
:
If you notice, for safety contour ECDIS has taken the 20 meter
contour because 15 meter contour is not available.
There is another option in the ECDIS to use two colors to show these
areas. When this option is selected, following will happen
Or we can say that light blue and blue color will merge and become
blue. Same way, grey and white color will merge and become white.
So there will be only two colors. One to show the shallow waters and
other to show the navigable water.
Even in the two color display, it is not that we cannot navigate in the
shallow waters. This is because it is showing the contour and not the
depth.
:
In our example, the dividing line will be the 15 meters contour. The
area below this contour will show as shallow waters (blue color). But
as the safety depth is 11 meters (which will be below 15 meters
contour), we can navigate in the shallow waters provided the depth
is above 14 meters.
Vector area
Sector Area
Vector area defines the area in length and width. Sector area defines
the area in radius and width (angle).
:
Vector area defines the area in length and width. Sector area defines
the area in radius and width (angle).
When you choose to display “Sector area”, it will look like this and
ECDIS will trigger alarm if it detects any danger in this area.
When you choose to display “Vector area”, it will look like this and
:
ECDIS will trigger alarm if it detects any danger in this area.
But there are times when we need to keep the buzzer off. Like in high
traffic density area when we are constantly monitoring the traffic. In
this case frequent alarms will be of lesser value.
Conclusion
I am a big advocate of use of ECDIS on board for navigation. In my
:
opinion ECDIS is making the shipping safer. Sure there have been
number of incidents because of user’s interpretation of ECDIS
display but the increase in training and good practices has helped to
cover many gaps. Correct use of safety settings in ECDIS will
definitely take it one step ahead .