Page 34: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 1997)

NAV/COM REVIEW

RENC service will be undertaking a trial service this year.

Additional collaboration between European HOs is demon- strated by the Electronic Chart

Hub Organization (ECHO) project which is an approved scheme of the

EU's Telematics Program.

This is designed to develop and demonstrate the supply of validat- ed ENC data and meta-data (asso- ciated administrative data) from

HOs to a RENC, the integration of the data with the RENC and the distribution of the ENC data to vessels at sea, fitted with the appropriate ECDIS equipment, making use of telecommunications technology throughout.

The participants in the project are the ECC as the RENC, the

U.K. and Finnish hydrographic offices as supplying HOs, the

Finnish Maritime Authority as receiving vessels, and the following software houses: Iona, Ireland and

Sysdeco Dikas, Norway. Aspo in

Finland is the nominated ECDIS manufacturer while Inmarsat and

Telenor are the communications authorities.

Also involved is Sintef of

Norway as a research organiza- tion. Started in early 1996, the project is expected to last two years.

Work is well underway in pro- duction of prototype data and the

UKHO, in conjunction with other regional HOs which are supplying source data, has now fully devel- oped its production capability to capture and convert chart data into an ENC database. The pro- duction program is generating

ENC data for the U.K., in order to provide it to the northern Europe

RENC.

The UKHO says there is a clear need for the commercial shipowner to have access to officially approved and updated ENC data, so that ECDIS equipment can be safely used.

In recognition of this situation, the ECC and UKHO are working at full speed to produce an official

ENC with an update service cover- ing some commercial routes which will be attractive to potential cus- tomers.

In order to ensure the correct data has been collated, extensive market research has been conduct- ed with consultations carried out with a wide variety of ship opera- tors with both small and large fleets, and of many nationalities, to ascertain what should be includ- ed in the ENC service and which areas should be covered.

The IMO adopted the perfor- mance standards for ECDIS in

November 1995, and by the end of

February 1996 agreement had been reached on both the data transfer standard — S57 Edition 3.0 — and the ENC product speci- fication.

The display catalog was final- ized in November last year and type approval for ECDIS is expect- ed from the International

Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 1998.

The ENC database is currently being developed and trials, includ- ing a prototype updating service, will be ready by the end of this year, an in 1998 the mariner should have ready access to the safety benefits of ECDIS within some major shipping routes and ports, the information being sup- plied through the northern Europe

RENC.

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