Obligations and challenges for national maritime administrations concerning the latest requirement for ships to carry ECDIS equipment

Since the earliest sailing exploits, the safety of navigation has been conditioned by the availability and reliability of adequate shipboard navigation aids. Surely, the success of such exploits also depended on officers´ competence for using these aids in an adequate manner. Through the centuries, there were no significant changes in the technical performance of basic navigation aids or in their usage, and therefore there was no need for additional education of navigation officers. However, a rapid technological development in many areas of human activities has brought about significant changes in the last several decades. Maritime transport of goods is an important part of the total transport of goods in the world, the result of which is a rapid development and the use of state-of-the-art technologies in the design and building of ships of different sizes and for different purposes. Such dynamics of the use of new technologies in the maritime transport has not followed the dynamics of the development of modern navigation systems. For that reason, even today a great number of ships are fitted with navigation equipment whose safety level is lower than that of the modern navigation systems used in other kinds of transport. Having recognized such situation in the last few years, competent international organisations, first of all the International Maritime Organisation and the International Hydrographic Organisation, have made special efforts to introduce state-of-the-art navigation equipment in the maritime transport. Adopting of technical standards for different navigation systems and rules for their implementation in national maritime regulations oblige ships to use more sophisticated navigation systems. One of the most important immediate navigation aids are certainly nautical charts and handbooks, which are used in the planning of navigation and during navigation. The traditional paper chart, with slight modifications, was the principal and reliable navigation aid for centuries. The use of new digital information technologies has allowed the development of reliable systems for a different display and an advanced use of the contents of nautical charts and publications. In December last year the International Maritime Organisation (Maritime Safety Committee) laid down the requirement for High Speed Craft to be fitted with Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) on a mandatory basis, with an implementation date of 1 July 2008 for the newly built craft and 1 July 2010 for the existing craft. Consideration of a mandatory ECDIS for other classes of ships has also been submitted for a regular procedure, but the implementation date will depend on the availability of electronic navigational charts (ENC). In the procedure of adopting ECDIS as mandatory navigational equipment, its contribution was recognized not only towards enhancing safety of navigation but also in a larger sense, in the concept of e-navigation. The contribution to the safety of navigation is determined by high-quality ENCs with global coverage and availability. Standardized ECDIS equipment has been available to its end users for some time now. However, navigational areas worldwide are still inadequately covered by high-quality official ENCs. This fact imposes great responsibility and commitment upon national hydrographic offices to produce reliable ENCs for their areas of responsibility by the implementation date for a mandatory ECDIS. Considering high technological and organizational requirements, such commitment shall pose a great challenge for many hydrographic offices.