Navigational equipment

AIS is a self-organized VHF transponder system aimed at improving the safety of navigationon inland and maritime waterways.

Chapter V of the SOLAS Convention establishes that 

• ships with 300 GT and above engaged on international voyages
• cargo ships of 500 GT and above engaged on national voyages
• any passenger ships

have to be equipped with AIS.

All vessels that are equipped with AIS exchange automatically and continually information about the ship and its current maneuvering data with each other: identity of the ship, its exact position, course and speed, heading and rate of turn, navigational status (e.g. at anchor, restricted in ability to maneuver). This facilitates a better overview of the current traffic situation and contributes to collision avoidance. Especially during large volumes of traffic and poor visibility, the AIS has a clear advantage to radar, the interpretation of which requires a lot of experience and constant  observation.

Furthermore, AIS with its AIS land stations opens up new possibilities for Vessel Traffic Services (with traffic control), Maritime Rescue Coordination Centers or Maritime Casualty Investigation.

AIS Class A are included in the appendix to A.1 of the European Marine Equipment Directive; therefore, an EU approval is required. AIS Class B and AIS SART are not listed in appendix A.1 and thus receive a national approval. The compliance with relevant standards of AIS land stations, AIS AtoN and AIS Airborne is certified with a "Statement of Conformity". An approval of these AIS classes is not necessary since they are not used on ships.

ECDIS is an interactive electronic navigation information system for ships which facilitates the simultaneous display of navigational charts, the current position of the ship as well as its movements and additional information (radar, AIS, echo sounder, etc.) on the screen. It assists the navigating officer in planning and monitoring the route and offers automatic alert functions for particular emergency situations.

An officially approved ECDIS has been recognized as an equivalent substitute for paper charts for the use on ships under German flag in compliance with SOLAS Regulation 19.2.1.4 chapter V.

According to Regulation V/19.2.10 SOLAS, the carriage of ECDIS is required for the following types of ship:

• passenger ships of 500 gross tonnage and more;
• tankers of 3,000 gross tonnage and more;
• cargo ships, other than tankers, of 10,000 gross tonnage and more;
• cargo ships, other than tankers, of 3,000 gross tonnage and more but less than 10,000 gross tonnage constructed on or after 1 July 2014;

Whether the installation of an ECDIS on a vessel allows for paper charts not  to be carried on board is outlined in MSC.232(82), section 14 in conjunction with Appendix 6. According to which carriage of paper charts may only be forgone in case of complete technical redundancy.

To be recognized as a full replacement for official paper charts on board seagoing vessels or fulfillment of mandatory carriage requirements, ECDIS must meet the following requirements:

1. The ECDIS system must have been type-tested and approved to the applicable IMO and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) performance standards by an officially appointed body (“notified body”).
2. Use of official ENCs (Electronic Navigational Charts) for the area to be navigated is mandatory with ECDIS. The official ENCs for Northern and Central Europe are held by the data centres IC-ENC (International Centre for ENCs) at Taunton (United Kingdom) and PRIMAR at Stavanger, Norway.
3. In case official ENC data for the area to be navigated are not yet available, ECDIS is allowed to be operated in “RCDS mode” using official raster data. However, in this case, a reduced folio of up-to-date official paper charts has to be carried as well. The ship’s master is responsible for selecting suitable charts on the following basis:
   • General route appraisal or ocean passage: medium-scale charts in the 1 : 750,000 to 1:1.500,000 range;
   • General route appraisal or open seas: medium- scale charts in the 1 : 100,000 to 1 : 500,000 range;
   • General route appraisal or navigation in congested coastal waters, pilotage waters or harbour approaches;  charts having a scale larger than 1 : 100,000.
4.  Suitable back-up arrangements for ECDIS must be provided to ensure safe arrival of the vessel at the port of destination in the event of an ECDIS failure. Under current provisions, the following options are possible:
   1. installation of two identical ECDIS, or
   2. installation of an approved ECDIS-Backup in addition to the ECDIS or
   3. carriage of a complete folio of up-to-date official paper charts.
      The requirement under paragraph 3. regarding the carrriage of a reduced folio of up-to-date official paper charts when using official raster data in “RCDS mode” remains valid. As a matter of course, if the requirement of back-up arrangements is met with option 4.c., the reduced folio of charts can be viewed as part of the back-up arrangements.

If all of the four above requirements are met, no additional approvals are required for navigational use of ECDIS as a substitute for official paper charts.

The VDR is a recoverable data recorder for use on seagoing vessels, which is the equivalent to aircraft flight data recorders.

In SOLAS Chapter V, Regulation 20 it is determined that all passenger vessels and all new ships of 3000 gross tonnage and above on international voyages have to be equipped with a VDR. Existing cargo ships on international voyages are to be retrofitted with an S-VDR (simplified VDR).

In their technical specifications, shipborne voyage data recorders are far superior to aircraft black boxes because they store a much larger variety of data. Besides the usual voice recording feature, VDR systems also record all important navigational and engine data as well as four radar and ECDIS pictures a minute. Two data protective capsules (submerssive capsule and free-floating capsule) store the recorded data of the last 48 hours. Older data is continuously overwritten with latest data. The submerssive capsule must be capable of withstanding heavy collisions, fires, and pressure conditions in several thousand metres of water.

Unlike shipborne automatic identification systems (AIS), VDR do not support safe navigation in the proper sense. The purpose of “Maritime Black Boxes” is to act as a reliable data source in the reconstruction of marine casualties. They will help to avoid past mistakes and increase the safety of navigation in general.

Voyage Data recorders require an EU certificate.