ECDIS Training the Past, the Present and the Future

By Bjoern Roehlich, Managing Director at MSG MarineServe GmbH

Since the rolling time frame for ECDIS implementation has already started, shipping companies and crewing agencies have to prepare their nautical personnel. ECDIS training actually requires two components: generic training and equipment-specific training, generally described as type-specific training.

Training requirements are nothing new: in 2000 the IMO introduced its IMO Model Course 1.27 for the “Operational Use of Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems”. This generic ECDIS training was designed to be held in a classroom environment during a 40-hour course. A new edition of this Model Course is currently under review as STW43/3/1 by the IMO. They then published the INTERIM GUIDANCE ON TRAINING AND ASSESSMENT IN THE OPERATIONAL USE OF THE ELECTRONIC CHART DISPLAY AND INFORMATION SYSTEM (ECDIS) SIMULATORS (STCW.7/Circ.10, June 2001).

In spite of these initiatives, ECDIS training was not included in the STCW Convention and Code for a long time. This led to inconsistencies in the regulations from the various Flag States: for the Isle of Man and United Kingdom registered ships, for example, it was mandatory for the navigation officers to attend a Flag State accepted IMO Model Course 1.27 or an MCA approved generic ECDIS course; other Flag States like Germany did not require any kind of ECDIS training and therefore did not certify the courses; and some Flag States, like Cyprus, certified the IMO Model Course 1.27 for Greek training institutes but with the certificates expiring after a period of 5 years.

With the changes to the STCW Convention and Code (also known as the Manila Amendments), ECDIS training becomes an integral part of the nautical officers training scheme, starting January 2012. Within the next five years every officer serving on an ECDIS equipped vessel must have attended a generic ECDIS training, which is accepted by his home country and the Flag State of the ship in which he/she is serving.

This is certainly a step in the right direction since the quality of the ECDIS training provided worldwide varies from a 3-day, classroom course up to a 5-day, 45-hour course. In some cases sailors get on-board training with an IMO Model Course 1.27 certificate but have never touched an ECDIS before. Looking at the various training providers, you will find excellently equipped facilities like the United States Merchant Marine Academy with ECDIS classrooms and individual simulators for each student but other training providers, who teach up to 30 students in a beamer equipped classroom with only one ECDIS, reading the manufacturer’s manual page-by-page. Manufacturer approved, high quality, training providers like Transas’ GET-Net Partner, Promarcindo in Jakarta, or ETC’s training partner, Novikontas in Riga, are hard to find in those parts of the world.

The training equipment and method used, however, is just one step on the way to a successful ECDIS training. Much also depends on the knowledge and teaching skills of the instructor and the quality of the courseware in use. Some ship owners have experienced problems with well-equipped training centers because the instructors are either too old, and have therefore never sailed with ECDIS before, or are young officers lacking training experience due to the fact that they are only filling in during their shore time.

Accidents involving vessels, like the CFL Performer, Cosco Busan, LT Cortesia and the Pride of Centerbury, show the pressing need to not only invest in the right equipment and paper work, but to make sure that the crew really has solid knowledge of the equipment in use. This is not, however, only about accidents: it is also about safe administration. Keeping all charts updated, loading new charts and applying T&P notices needs to be learned in order to avoid a deficiency that can be noted by Vetting or Port State Control. In a recent study, Germanischer Lloyd pinpointed that most of the deficiencies reported were due to a lack of knowledge in the field of navigation.

Some of this knowledge can be acquired by attending an equipment specific training course. In the past this was a non-regulated obligation for the ship owner, implicitly mentioned in the ISM Code, the Paris MOU and required by vetting. The content of the equipment familiarization was not described and certificates could be issued by anybody (there was a situation some years ago, when a distance learning provider with no manufacturer course training issued type-specific training certificates even though no tutoring was provided and based solely on an exercise sheet completed using the ship’s equipment.) Much of the knowledge was, in fact, simply acquired through trickle-down training from one officer to another with the event being recorded by a note in the ship’s logbook.

In 2011, however, the MPA issued circular No. 3 of 2011, which was followed by the MCA’s MIN 405. Both documents place much of the responsibility for training on the ECDIS manufacturer. The MCA requires, for the ECDIS ship-specific equipment training, that “it should build on an approved generic training course and be delivered by the manufacturer, the manufacturer’s approved agent or a trainer who has attended such a program”. MPA also requires an approved generic course and in addition points out that “the navigating officers should be provided with training on the specific make and model installed on their ships. This equipment-specific training can be supplied by the shipping company itself as part of ship familiarization, using the services of trainers appointed by the manufacturer or the manufacturer’s agent”.

Since the new STCW Convention and Code implicitly requires a lot of practical know-how from the navigator, it is very likely that more and more flag states will issue similar national regulations in order to ensure a certain minimum quality in the equipment-specific training. As on many occasions in the past, the MCA has already set a high standard by requiring the following topics to be covered during such equipment-specific training:

familiarization with available functions
familiarization with the menu structure
display setup
setting of safety values
recognition of alarms and malfunction indicators and the actions to be taken
route planning
route monitoring
changing over to backup systems
loading charts and licenses
updating of software

Taking these topics into account it becomes obvious that the training has to be done on a live, running, system and that it is therefore very necessary to invest two full training days.

In the past, selling the equipment and conducting maritime training was generally split between the manufacturer and independent training providers. Certainly, every ECDIS manufacturer should be able to offer equipment specific training but not all of them got seriously involved in Flag State approved generic ECDIS training. With increased system complexity on board modern vessels and the lack of standardization, however, the transfer of know-how from the ECDIS manufacturer to the navigation officer on board becomes more and more critical. While smaller ECDIS brands tend toward outsourcing the equipment-specific training, some ECDIS manufacturers, like Transas Marine or Furuno, and training providers like ECDIS Ltd or MSG MarineServe GmbH have already responded to these challenges.

In early 2010, Transas started their Global ECDIS Training Network, GET-Net: a partnership between an ECDIS and maritime simulation manufacturer and a number of independent ECDIS training providers designed to provide a standardized, high quality, training with worldwide availability. In order to ensure this quality, Transas Marine created a Flag State and Germanischer Lloyd approved Generic ECDIS training, which already includes the type-specific elements required by the MCA – for Transas’ own equipment. In addition to providing the complete courseware, every GET-Net instructor has to attend a Transas Train-the-Trainer course and is audited several times in order to ensure the training quality. To keep the knowledge up-to-date, Transas supports its customers with a computer based training program, free of charge ECDIS Demo and a self-training ECDIS workbook.

Furuno, with its professional INS Training Center in Copenhagen, is an example of an equipment-manufacturer owned training facility. In November 2005 they were awarded the Certificate of Approval by DNV SeaSkill for the IMO Model Course 1.27 and have since continued to develop a broader range of training courses. Today they are also able to offer those courses, which were traditionally offered by independent training providers like Bridge Team Management or Bridge Resource Management, whereas companies like Kongsberg or Transas Marine leave these courses to their simulation customers.

The example of Furuno brings us to another problem: the limited availability of their training facilities around the world. Furuno has already recognised this disadvantage and is now selling ECDIS training, including ECDIS training courseware and instructor courses, to the shipping companies direct and has started to utilize its own local offices for training. Other manufacturers solve this challenge by partnering with local independent training providers. This certainly saves travel costs for the crews and leads to a situation where the manufacturer with the most training facilities gains a competitive advantage.

In discussing training providers, it is worth taking a closer look at UK based ECDIS Ltd and MSG MarineServe GmbH from Germany. These two companies offer far more than just a conventional ECDIS course.

With a well-chosen name and excellent marketing, ECDIS Ltd offers its training on a wide range of different ECDIS brands with full manufacturer approval. Given that MCA still insists on the use of original hardware, ECDIS Ltd has set out to offer the customer the possibility of receiving training on a wide range of manufacturer’s equipment in one of the largest, fixed location, training facilities worldwide.

MSG MarineServe GmbH has taken a different approach and is able to provide ECDIS training using a laptop-computer based classroom that is fully mobile, allowing them to conduct training in Hamburg, on-site or wherever the customer wants. In order to ensure the quality and to comply with MPA and MCA requirements for official manufacturer approval, MSG has signed official partnership agreements with all their offered brands.

ECDIS limited also addressed the DoE issue and together with the Nautical Institute invented an accreditation for type-specific ECDIS training. MSG is following a similar path with BSH in Germany. Today, experienced training providers are trying to deliver the best possible support to their clients providing ECDIS consulting and giving post-course advice. The challenge in the immediate future will be the multiplicity of equipment and interfaces, the demand for training and the costs that this combination will generate

MSG MarineServe GmbH, as an independent provider, has tackled this problem by broadening the Transas Marine GET-Net concept of a manufacturer approved, standardized, high quality training by extending the range of manufacturers covered. Using a modular course structure, they offer a standardized generic component that can be individually combined with a type-specific component for the different ECDIS brands offered. To make this available worldwide, MSG has launched ETC (ECDIS Training Consortium) in which all partnering training institutes receive a detailed instructor course, are regularly audited to ensure the quality and work to the one set of course material.

This modular approach is very interesting, as it generates the consistency of a single learning platform. It is built up on the concept of the German based, online training company, Safebridge (Safebridge.net), which provides training on the live, running, OEM software and requires the single platform to permit delivery using a web-based solution. Unlike any other computer based training, Safebridge’s offering is “the real thing”. Most major ECDIS equipment can be offered using a free play or a guided training mode, which is followed by candidate assessment leading to certification.

To cover the certification requirements, all test results, feedback forms and copies of each certificate are kept in a centralized database. The authenticity of each certificate can be checked via an automated system using a smart phone camera and a 3D barcode, which eases the work of a vetting or Port State control inspector.

The sailor can familiarize himself at home before joining the vessel and training institutes only need to invest in one ECDIS classroom, which allows them to provide ECDIS generic and type specific training for a much wider range of manufacturers than would otherwise be the case. From the point of view of the individual sailor, the owner or the crewing agency, this saves a lot of travel time and money; from the point of view of the training institutes on the other hand, this enables them to offer ECDIS training for a wider variety of ECDIS manufacturers without incurring the investment costs that this would normally entail.

ECDIS training is changing today: in the age of electronic communications and games, the teaching methods need to move with the skill set of those coming into the industry. In the end, it will certainly become more professional and the officer on-board will feel more confident using ECDIS to its full potential.