STCW REVISION CONFERENCE Manila : July 2010

June 13th, 2011 by JCB
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The ECDIS Revolotion conference last November ( see page 11) included a comprehensive review of the Manila STCW Conference.

At this conference amendments were made which make specific reference to training for Electronic Chart Display & Information System (ECDIS). After January 1^st 2012, all watchkeepers renewing their  Certificates of Competency (CoC) will need to have completed an approved IMO 1.27 generic course.   A candidate for revalidation who does not have ECDIS training will be issued with an endorsed certificate restricting them to non ECDIS vessels.

Compulsory carriage of ECDIS starts in 2012 and by 2020, all SOLAS vessels will be navigating with ECDIS as the primary navigational system.

The situation is complicated by the proliferation of different types of ECDIS equipment currently approved by IMO since the ISM code requires all navigators to have been on type specific training courses for the equipment they are using!

This raises the question as to whether  the pilot take conduct of the vessel where he as not been trained to use the specific ECDIS in use and whilst this has been clarified for UK pilots ( see page 7) courts may flag this as an issue in other countries following an incident.

Following the conference a summing up of the major points was carried out.

Standardisation: This is looking at such things as generating a commonality between the ECDIS manufacturers with respect to terminology and symbology while also attempting to get the various regulatory bodies around the world to find a common ground in their regulations for training and standards. This is also relevant in trying to ensure that Port State Inspectors are all working to the same rules and regulations in order that Captains don’t have to try and explain things continuously.

Training : This will be looking at a number of areas including the generic and type specific training and, in particular, a plan to develop a means of auditing such training if this is to be conducted on board by other members of the bridge team. Continual training of the bridge teams by means of external assessment and the generation and integration of company working procedures  will be worked on. Those shipping companies who were present at the conference and have already gone down this path will be asked to contribute more significantly on this.

Pilots: It was evident from the number of questions, comments and concerns that the Pilots and their organisations were concerned at where they stand from a legal and operational point of view. Therefore it is hoped to be able to engage with them and try to find a common ground that clarifies procedures to satisfy shipping companies, flag states and the legal organisations.

Out of these there is the belief that the ECDIS issues concerning pilots might warrant a separate conference session and this will be looked into as the discussions continue.

My own thoughts at the close of the conference are that proper and appropriate training can alleviate many of the fears and potential problems.  The IMO standard course 1.27 calls for 40 hours training over 5 days.  Many training providers are not carrying out this full course.  It is my belief that pilots will need to be fully aware of how to use the ECDIS equipment when things go wrong because when things do go wrong in pilotage waters they go wrong very quickly without the time to be asking how to operate a piece of equipment! The challenge for pilots is that in embracing fully the benefits to safety of navigation that ECDIS can give us we must also be wary of any problems either foreseen or unforeseen which can occur.

Kevin Vallance ( Europilots)