ECDIS- On the Way to Cost Savings and Safer Navigation

Availability of various tools for voyage planning and management make that the hours of work can be completed in minutes, besides making it well organised. Tools and technology such as these are essential in making work on the navigation bridge at par with that elsewhere.

Thus, we can easily conclude that with regard to all three major concerns of ship owners, equipping a ship with an ECDIS now, makes sense.
Outlook
The opinion that over-reliance on electronic navigation can dilute or distract prudent practices sounds outdated if one looks at the enhanced intensity of navigational operations in most ports of the world. Fatigue has been cited as the ‘number one’ concern of mariners in two different studies [2],[3]. It was also the most frequently mentioned problem in a recent industry survey [4]. In this study on critical vessel casualties and personnel injuries, it was found that fatigue contributed to 16% of the vessel casualties and 33% of the injuries. (A ‘critical’ vessel casualty was defined as a vessel casualty in which there was significant damage to the vessel or property, or in which the safety of the crew was at risk). Substantial savings in man hours on navigational tasks in paperless navigation and thus reduction in fatigue can be considered a major argument in favor of electronic navigation. Paperless navigation is reality and is closer than we can imagine it to be.