Ecdis training is essential for improving crew competence and ensuring the safe navigation of ships with these devices. It is also a mandatory requirement that bridge teams are familiar with operating ecdis on board their vessels. To meet the needs of shipowners, there are generic ecdis courses that follow the IMO model course 1.27 and type-specific courses that familiarise crew in ecdis operation.
Generic and type-specific training can be conducted in academies or using online courses, in which Safebridge has become a leading provider. It has joined forces with Videotel and Seagull in separate deals to deliver online ecdis familiarisation training to ship operators.
Some argue that training in academies using the knowledge of experienced trainers is a better way of ensuring that crew are familiar with ecdis operations and able to cope in difficult scenarios, such as when the positioning signal is tampered with.
Modal Training is the latest independent centre to open for maritime training in Europe. The centre opened in Immingham, UK in February this year for a range of maritime and offshore courses, including ecdis generic and type-specific training. Sam Whitaker, director of Modal Training and vice principal of strategic projects at Grimsby Institute, said that ecdis training in academies provides seafarers with navigation practice in various situations.
“Trainers can put trainees in difficult situations by switching off the GPS feed. Obstacles and difficulties can be introduced to test individual responses in a safe and controlled environment,” he said. “We have six ecdis-chart radar workstations in one room, run on Kongsberg’s K-Sim navigation simulation. We can provide generic and type-specific courses. Kongsberg is the first, but we expect more will come,” he added.
Mr Whitaker explained that these desktop kits simulate a wide range of scenarios and traffic levels to help support mariners in learning the latest route planning and voyage monitoring techniques. They broaden seafarer knowledge about vessel movements in different conditions, in plotting safe routes, validating routes and keeping ships on track.
Seafarer ecdis training should not stop when the type-specific courses have been completed. Mariners are expected to maintain their familiarisation with onboard ecdis throughout their careers, which means regular training when systems and software are regularly updated. Port state control inspectors are increasingly expected to verify bridge officer competence on ecdis.
UK-based training group Ecdis Ltd has has responded to these requirements by introducing annual competency assurance training (ACAT) courses for ships with and without internet access. These courses assure vessel owners that crew are competent in using onboard ecdis equipment, which improves navigation safety and meets regulatory requirements. The offline versions are the same as the online ACAT courses, except they can be purchased and downloaded onshore, or when internet access is available. They can then be run on any computer for up to one year for competency assurance purposes.
The courses are available with two different licence options. There is a single licence for individual seafarers, and an option for shipowners to cover the complete competence training requirement on the vessel for a year. This enables companies to register an entire ship with an unlimited number of crew members.
Tanker and gas carrier operator Consolidated Marine Management (CMM) and passenger shipping company Condor Ferries have both started using ACAT courses for crews. CMM uses ACAT training for ecdis models supplied by Japan Radio Co and Furuno Electric on 23 ships. It operates a fleet of 12 product and chemical tankers, three oil tankers and eight very large gas carriers.
Condor Ferries, which operates passenger ships between the UK, France and the Channel Islands, has agreed to use Ecdis Ltd to offer competence assurance training to crew that use ecdis supplied by Transas. Latvian company LSC Shipmanagement also offers ACAT courses to crew. Its head of fleet personnel Sanita Zurzdina said that ACAT courses for specific ecdis models have been beneficial to the company. She added: “From my perspective, the courses have given us great insight into our crews’ competence and have given us peace of mind that they fully understand how to use the equipment. We have already found our crew members are being reminded of the functions on their ecdis systems that they needed refreshing on.”
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