07Jul TNL Greece and Aegean Electronics finalize the research for the SRVP application

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have instituted the standards that ECDIS equipment must meet so to be installed on all ships over 500 tons, constituting the main means of navigation in place of the traditional paper charts. Any divergence or violation of this regulatory framework could possibly cause significant fines for the ship owner or the management company. The Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) used by ECDIS are vector type and they are subject to the regulations developed by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the IMO. Since 1995, IMO Regulation A.817 (19), as amended by MSC.64 (67), has clearly described the operating specifications, as well as all the methods and means that ENCs should be supported and updated.

Nowadays, the majority of the ships have already installed the appropriate ECDIS equipment in order to ensure compliance but also to improve safety, which is actually the main mission of the ENCs implementation.

This research project aims to examine whether the implementation of an application that will, not only update the electronic charts on the ship in accordance with the above regulations, but will at the same time propose to the master the optimum course of the ship to the designated destination taking into account the meteorological forecasts of internationally recognized organizations, would realistically resolve practical issues on board the vessels and provide useful information to ships operators. The application is aspired to constitute the only tool simplifying both the ship's route planning process and maintain the ENCs updated up to the final destination.

This automated process will assist the owners to achieve economies of scale, which will be more prominent in larger fleet management companies, as it:

• saves vital time from Master’s on board and Operators’ at shipping companies overloaded schedule due to the simplification of the procedure
• reduces the possibility a ship to be headed in an area that is being affected by severe weather phenomena and consequently eliminates the risk of damage or loss of cargo, while at the same time avoid waste of fuel
• it will not increase the consumption of the satellite data volume for the update of the electronic charts, based on that only the updates of the ENCs of the actually intended route will be transmitted in advance, considering that transport and customs’ clearance costs are already waived by the use of the electronic maps.
• does not require the installation or use of any specialized equipment, as it can operate with the existing communications means

More importantly, however, the implementation of such an application will have a direct impact on the safety of the ship, again operating on two levels: the ship and the office.

• The ship will have at its disposal the World Folio of ENCs at all times, and only the updated of those actually required to reach its destination will be transmitted by very basic communication devices due to their reduced volume
• The ship will be traced every 15 mins (96 seats per day) in order to allow almost live tracking by the company
• The application will be providing the ability to receive position signals from devices that are usually installed in the fortress / citadel rooms, fact that would allow traceability even in an unfortunate piracy situation.