February 8, 2011
On this bridge of the future, a megayacht captains watches just a single video screen. The yacht’s course is mapped, showing waypoints and buoys. Multicolored icons show approaching vessels. A storm is shown building to the north.
An alarm rings and soundings flash, alerting of shallow water. Quietly and continually, the charts are updating and corrections show instantaneously on the screen.
There’s not a paper chart or pencil, not even a chart table, in sight. Yet the yacht is completely legal.
Welcome to the world of the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS).
Megayacht captains and crew are seeing more ECDIS systems on yachts as it is added to new builds and refits, even though only new charter yachts larger than 500gt will be required to have it beginning in 2012.
“It gives the watch keeper the ability to watch one screen instead of eight,” said Capt. Herb Magney of M/Y At Last, a 145-foot Heesen. Though his current command does not have ECDIS, he’s worked on vessels that have it.
“The majority of boats over 30m will have it in the next five to eight years, depending on the owner’s interest in technology,” he said.
First, a clarification of the acronyms: ECS, ENC and ECDIS.
Most boats use electronic chart systems (ECS). Found on yachts, dinghies and even smart phones, they include standard navigational cartography through companies such as Garmin, Navionics, Maptech and C-Map. They can get their data from private hydrographic sources and may not meet all international requirements for navigational charts.
Electronic navigational charts (ENC) differ in that they are derived from official hydrographic offices, such as the UK’s Hydrographic Office (British Admiralty). They fulfill SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) requirements and may be used as the primary system for navigation. The ENC contain all updated chart information, including notice to mariners, sailing directions and light lists.
And finally, ECDIS is the navigation information system that allows a vessel to run without paper charts, provided it has adequate updating, back-up arrangements and a vessel positioning system. ECDIS is required to use ENCs and includes route planning, monitoring and positioning, and has appropriate alarms for information display and equipment malfunctions.
“There is misinformation and misunderstanding, but it is understandable,” said Justin Mann, head of large yacht services at Bluewater Books and Charts in Ft. Lauderdale. “Lots of yachts have ECDIS hardware, but if they’re not running the proper charts, then it is not a compliant system. They may say they have ECDIS, but it depends what hardware and what charts. Some are putting it in, not necessarily running it, but putting it in place.
“And <<ITAL>>paperless<<ITAL>> is a misnomer at this stage,” he said. “They usually still have something, get-out-of-jail paper [charts].”
With ECDIS, crew no longer have to hand-correct charts; the system automatically updates cartography and publications, usually through Internet or satellite service. Crew don’t have to monitor a variety of data screens on the bridge; ECDIS integrates all navigation systems: cartography, GPS, Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA), Automatic Identification System (AIS), and any other data the yacht has, such as weather and bathymetrics.
Charts from countries around the world are integrating into ECDIS by using a standard computer format known as S-57, said Mann, who works with megayachts on compliance data and electronic software. S-57 ensures that all ENCs shared between hydrographic offices and manufacturers use similar data presentations.
“The international organizations said ‘how are we going to share this data?’ and they came up with it,” Mann said. “S-57 is the transfer standard.”
The industry is heading toward more integrated, paperless bridges and black box technology, following lessons from the commercial sector.
“Since it is mandatory on some freighters and commercial vessels, we have a trickle down to megayachts,” said Fred Rubinstein, head of inside sales with Electronics Unlimited, which has sold more systems to yachts recently.
Technology changes rapidly and yachts want to stay ahead of the curve, anticipating trends and regulations, especially in the realm of electronics, he said.
“Look, five years ago we didn’t have apps for the phone and now we can get communications to your boat mid-sea,” Rubinstein said.
Recent IMO guidelines state that new passenger vessels larger than 500gt must comply by July 1, 2012, and existing ships by 2014.
Even so, some yacht owners and builders figure they may as well add ECDIS when they build new or do a refit.
To be truly compliant with International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements, though, the ECDIS-endowed yacht must have a second system, powered independently, with completely redundant systems.
Capt. Ted Morley, chief operations officer at Maritime Professional Training in Ft. Lauderdale, talked to the master of a commercial vessel who thought he was compliant with several ECDIS systems. On clarification, Morley found multiple ECDIS hardware systems, but only one GPS and one AIS, making the yacht non-compliant because the duplicate system did not completely operate independently.
But ECDIS is more than just hardware and software.
“The equation for compliance also includes training,” Mann said.
Schools such as MPT offer a course that satisfies the ECDIS-training requirements for deck officers standing watch on an ECDIS-equipped vessel.
But there are concerns about ECDIS.
“ECDIS is the kind of system you shouldn’t be messing with, if you don’t know what you’re doing,” said Scott Field, senior deck department instructor who teaches ECDIS at MPT.
Field, who is also MPT’s field manager of simulator operations, proved his point on the simulator. By using the “by cursor” button, he repositioned the simulator vessel with one click, placing the yacht as displayed on ECDIS on the north side of the harbor when it was really still on the south side.
“It’s easy to get fooled with this equipment,” Field said.
He quickly showed another example with the “offset button,” which would be used, for example, on a 1,200-foot ship to compensate for the location of the helm in relation to the GPS receiver, or when the GPS uses data from a different hydrographic survey, Field said.
“If that button is hit, all the readings are off,” he said.
“Another problem is over-reliance on the system,” Field said, noting that more novice crew get so engaged with the technology they forget to look out the window.
“A big difference between ECDIS and standard electronic navigation is the amount of information,” Field said.
And that concerns trainers, insurance companies and governing bodies.
“In the majority of accidents, sensory overload is a huge cause of accidents,” Magney said. “The accident prevention industry is interested in preventing this from being too big of a crutch.”
There are ongoing concerns over whether ECDIS can be the sole means of navigation and disagreement on the definition of compliant back-ups.
“Not all flag states accept ECDIS, the spectrum being that the flag state is ultimately responsible,” Mann said. “And not all geographic regions are covered by compliant hydrographic offices, so some boats have to use non-ENC and ENC for navigating.”
There is no stopping advancements in yachting, so beneficial or hazardous, ECDIS is likely to continue to become more prevalent in the yachting industry.
Plus, as Magney said, “it’s such a cool gizmo thing.”
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