On November 4, the American Waterways Operators sent discuss recommended alterations to U.S. Coast Guard requirements relating to the use of electronic charts and publication s instead of paper graphes, maps as well as magazines.
In its remarks, AWO states that it “strongly supports the revision of this NVIC to allow certain navigation publications to be accessed electronically via the internet to meet domestic and international carriage requirements” as well as concurs that “the efforts of federal agencies to provide marine safety information in an updated electronic format, combined with vessel operators’ investments in electronic devices and underway internet connectivity, have progressed to the point that accessing required navigation information via the internet on an as-needed basis provides an equivalent level of safety to keeping a publication on board the vessel.”
However, AWO states it is worried by a suggested demand that magazines that have to be readily available as a “ready reference” consisting of the Inland Navigation Rules, have to be displayable within 2 mins.
“We believe that this interpretation of ready reference is arbitrary and could lead to unwarranted penalties for mariners during Coast Guard marine safety inspections and boardings,” states AWO.
The Coast Guard currently takes into consideration most digital gadgets to be efficient in satisfying a two-minute period as well as, although AWO concurs that this is a precise analysis of the capacity of the majority of digital gadgets, “it does not take into account circumstances that could arise when a Coast Guard marine inspector or boarding officer requests a mariner to demonstrate that the required publications can be displayed within two minutes.”
AWO states that “if the mariner must boot up the computer, if the network transmission speeds are slow, or if there are other factors that impact the speed at which the publications can be displayed, the revised NVIC does not allow Coast Guard personnel to consider these factors when determining whether, for all practical purposes, the mariner can access publications needed in a timely manner to conduct voyage planning.”
The modified NVIC recognizes that when a vessel is underway, “connectivity may be intermittent or unavailable for short durations of a voyage,” which “[t]his temporary unavailability does not necessarily constitute a lack of access particularly if no voyage planning activities are occurring.”
AWO thinks that comparable factor to consider ought to be included scenarios in which the vessel is not underway to make sure that the sailor as well as the vessel are not punished or protected against from making use of the similarity readily available under the modified NVIC, if they are not able to create these files within 2 mins.
Read AWO’s remarks completely HERE
