PRIMAR Distributors Met in Copenhagen

These questions were debated during PRIMAR’s distributor seminar, which took place in Copenhagen on 17 November.

Nearly 40 representatives from 22 different companies came to the Danish capital to share experiences and discuss the way PRIMAR is operated. The Director of PRIMAR, Kjell Olsen, was pleased with the feedback he received from the various partners.

– We got clear answers on all the questions we asked, he said.

Pay-as-you-sail

In his keynote address, which marked the opening of the meeting, Mr Olsen highlighted challenges related to ENC production, distribution and licensing. He argued that the current licensing system is too complicated and restricts innovation.

– Pay-as-you-sail is the way forward, Mr Olsen said – adding that innovation in this field will ease the workload and reduce the cost of ENCs.

E-navigation

Senior Marine Advisor John Murray of the International Chamber of Shipping then gave a presentation on developments in e-navigation and implementation of ECDIS.

He presented a list of topics he considered to be important:

• If ECDIS is to realise its full potential, all required charts must be available.
• The advantage of the ECDIS system depends on the availability of high quality ENCs.
• Users should have greater access to standardised controls, menus and systems. Training in colleges should be specified to a basic design with fixed functions and operations.
• Flexible licensing is important.

When it comes to e-navigation, Mr Murray stressed that the rapid technological developments on the bridge force ship owners and ship operators to reconsider the traditional training of navigators.

Senior Marine Advisor John Murray of the International Chamber of Shipping (left) and the Director of PRIMAR, Kjell Olsen.

Preparation Tool

Senior Nautical Surveyor Arve Lepsøe from DNV shared his views on the challenges surveyors are faced with when inspecting ECDIS onboard ships.

Since the number of ECDIS systems is increasing, and will continue to accelerate in near future, he called for a preparation tool that will enable surveyors to control which areas the ship’s license covers and which chart database and updates surveyors can expect to find onboard.

He also emphasised the need for standardised access to the chart library and update history, plus easily available guidelines on how the find this information.

Greenland and ENC production

Peter Ladegård Sørensen from the Danish Hydrographic Service (KMS) also gave a presentation on ENC production plans for Greenland waters.

Because of harsh weather conditions and sparse data coverage, navigation around Greenland is a challenging task. In addition, search and rescue units are often far away – and the Arctic environment is particularly vulnerable to accidents.

As the 2012 timeline for mandatory ECDIS carriage draws nearer, Mr Ladegård Sørensen said that Denmark has found it necessary to provide guidance on navigation around Greenland and to inform of precautions regarding the use of electronic navigations in Greenland waters.

– A great success

The seminar brought together professionals from various fields, and the combination of discussions and presentations gave the participants an insight into the experiences of other partners.

– The active and enthusiastic participation of distributors and lively debates made this seminar a great success, RENC manager Sach Sharma said.

The distributor seminar is organised in Copenhagen once a year. PRIMAR currently has 58 distributors worldwide.