Page 15: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2021)

AUTOMATION AND AUTONOMY

Radar is an early example of the application of technology fully checked. The of? cer on watch assumed that everything to the marine sector. It signi? cantly improved safety, but oc- was ? ne and because the ship was far at sea, he could cease casionally led to radar-assisted collisions. The electronic chart checking the radar and examining the horizon. display and information system (ECDIS) has been a further ma- Most of the time though, the of? cer on watch will catch jor advance in marine safety, but there is no universal standard things in time and avoid the casualty. What will happen when for its manufacture and operation. With different models being there is no person on the bridge? Autonomous shipping is be- installed on different ships, it is a constant challenge to keep ing actively explored and great advancements have been made. deck of? cers trained in the proper use of the ECDIS model on- I worry though. Autonomous shipping relies on sophisticated board the ship on which they are currently employed. Required hardware working properly for extended periods in trying and training is sorely lacking. As a result, many ECDIS models on changing environments. It relies on proper software and pro- many ships are not being used properly. The problem has got- gramming that also operates properly over extended periods. ten worse. Some deck of? cers look at the screen without fully My computer seems to require replacing or a major upgrade understanding what it displays – and what it could display if every few years. This will be a complex process for a ship. Fi- properly utilized. A few years ago a bulker grounded at full sea nally, the system relies on programmers who are conversant in speed on a small, charted island in the South Atlantic in part both advanced computer programming and in ship operation. because the course programmed into the ECDIS was not care- Good luck ? nding that combination.in future years.

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OILY WATER

SEPARATORS

There is one segment of maritime environmental protection that unnec- essarily has been a continuing prob- lem. This relates to misuse and abuse of oily water separators and oil record books. Unfortunately, the separators do not work well over the long haul, requiring frequent maintenance and repair. Owners and operators do not provide their chief engineers with the necessary support and funding to keep these units in operation, with the re- sult that many engineers bypass the system and make improper entries in the vessels’ oil record books. Eventu- ally many of these improper entries or inoperable separators are discovered, placing the engineers in dif? cult legal situations and subjecting owners and operators to potential multi-million- dollar ? nes. This is avoidable. Owners and operators need to take a round turn on this problem. www.marinelink.com 15

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