What is APEM?

 A systematic process for creating a passage plan to ensure all

eventualities you may encounter have been considered

 Appraisal, Planning, Execution, Monitoring

 Get the passage planning checklist from the SMS to ensure nothing is

missed.

Firstly

 NP131 Chart Catalogue

 overview of the route on large scale gnomonic charts - Gives rough

distance of the passage

 Estimate DEP/ARR times, Time zone changes

 Fuel or stores stop

 Once happy with the route I can transfer the passage to a Mercator

chart, medium scale for ocean passages, small scale charts for port

approaches/ pilotage

 Ensuring all charts and pub’s are up to date

 Ocean Passages of the World: for dist. tables, recommended great

circle routes, climatic charts for the extent of ice and wind conditions

Secondly- Admiralty Sailing Directions for info on coastal passage at either end

e.g. high traffic densities

 Total Tide for ports en route and destination

ALRS

 VOL 1 Maritime Radio Stations for Coast stations

  VOL 2 Radio Aids to Navigation, Differential GPS (DGPS), Legal Time, Radio

Time Signals and Electronic Position Fixing System for Aton, Racon Beacons,

Daylight savings time and dates

 VOL 3 - Maritime Safety Information Services for NAVEX and SafetyNet

stations and safety information broadcasts

 VOL 4 Meteorological Observation Stations for the location of met stations

 VOL 5 - GMDSS for comms for distress and search and rescue, extracts from

SOLAS and ITU regs, MRCC contacts, NAVTEX and MSI information

 VOL 6 - Pilot Services, Vessel Traffic Services and Port Operations for Port

and pilot contacts, VTS information, reporting systems

 Load Line Charts for areas that you can’t enter, might result in a composite

great circle

 Security charts to highlight dangerous areas, company SMS checklist should

be consulted when passing through these areas

 MARPOL areas for what and where you can discharge

 Ships routing guide for routing schemes adopted by the IMO that may need

to be followed

 Mariners’ handbook for useful information on a range of topics

Thirdly - Looking at forecasts for the upcoming route that may affect the passage of

the ship (shipping forecast, company private forecasting systems, internet, Sat-C,

NAVTEX)

 Contingency plans to consider for the route

What is the difference between VTS and VTIS?

 VTIS - have the power to order the movement of ships and they must adhere

(e.g. Southampton)

 VTS - Can only advise

Planning Stage

The passage plan should cover the whole passage, from berth to berth with routes

chosen with safety in mind rather than distance. Contingency plans should be made

for the possibility of equipment, steering gear or main engine failure at a critical

position. An allowance for secondary position fixing methods should be considered in

the event of primary method failure.

Passage planning considerations should include:

 Bridge manning requirements

 Draught of vessel, with particular regard to UKC and air draught if appropriate

 Tides: times, height, direction and rate for each leg of the voyage

 Currents: direction and rate for each leg of the voyage

 Meteorological conditions

 Advice and recommendations given in the sailing directions

 Navigational lights, ranges, colours, arcs,

 Navigational marks, radar and visual detection ranges

 Traffic separation scheme, whether voluntary or mandatory-rule 10 TSS

 Location of any ferry routes, particularly high-speed craft

 Navigational warnings pertaining to the area Ground tracks and distances

 Courses by gyro compass

 Courses by magnetic compass if applicable

 The reliability and condition of the ship’s navigational equipment, good

equipment allows more flexibility

 Primary methods of position monitoring

  Secondary methods of position monitoring

 Engine status

 Ground speed

 Time duration on each track

 Danger points-whether to pass in the daytime or night time-availability of

good aids to navigation around the danger points.

 Traffic conditions, TSS area, dense traffic-need for reduced speed, engine

standby, Hand steering, extra lookouts.

 Vessel’s ability to manoeuvre

 Time duration for voyage and ETAs at critical points

 Allowance for time zone change

 VHF channels for port control, pilots, tugs, berths

 Port signals/flags

 Factors to be considered during the 'execution' stage

Execution Stage

When the passage plan is finalized, as soon as time of departure and estimated time

of arrival can be determined with reasonable accuracy, the voyage or passage

should be executed in accordance with the plan.

Factors which should be taken into account when executing the plan, or deciding on

any departure therefrom include:

 The reliability and condition of the vessel's navigational equipment.

 Estimated times of arrival at critical points for tide heights and flow.

 Meteorological conditions, (particularly in areas known to be affected by

frequent periods of low visibility) as well as weather routeing information.

  Daytime versus night-time passing of danger points, and any effect this may

have on position fixing accuracy; and

 Traffic conditions, especially at navigational focal points.

 Local consideration such as Notice to Mariners

IMO resolution A893(21) states it is important for the master to consider whether any

particular circumstance, such as the forecast of restricted visibility in an area where

position fixing by visual means at a critical point is an essential feature of the voyage

or passage plan, introduces an unacceptable hazard to the safe conduct of the

passage; and thus whether that section of the passage should be attempted under

the conditions prevailing or likely to prevail. The master should also consider at

which specific points of the voyage or passage there may be a need to utilize

additional deck or engine room personnel.

Monitoring Stage

Monitoring of the vessel's progress along the pre-planned track is a continuous process.

The officer of the watch, whenever in any doubt as to the position of the vessel or the

manner, in which the voyage is proceeding, should immediately call the master and, if

necessary, take appropriate action for the safety of the vessel.

Advantage should be taken of all the navigational equipment with which the vessel is

fitted for position monitoring, bearing in mind the following points:

 Positions obtained by electronic positioning systems must be checked regularly by

visual bearings and transits whenever available.

 Visual fixes should, if possible, be based on at least three position lines.

 Transit marks, clearing bearings and clearing ranges (radar) can be of great

assistance.

 It is dangerous to rely solely on the output from a single positioning system.

  The echo sounder provides a valuable check of depth at the plotted position.

 Within the monitoring stage think about where is the closet danger? Is this the

seabed? Buoys should not be used for position fixing but may be used for

guidance when shore marks are difficult to distinguish visually; in these

circumstances their positions should first be checked by other means,

 The charted positions of offshore installations should be checked against the most

recent navigational notices.

 The functioning and correct reading of the instruments used should be checked.

 The use of leading lights to cross check a compass error.

 Account must be taken of any system errors and the predicted accuracy of

positions displayed by electronic position fixing systems.

 The frequency at which the position is to be fixed should be determined for each

section of the voyage.

PASSAGE PLANNING ON ECDIS

APPRAISAL AND PLANNING

 Consider which electronic charts will be used for the passage, ENC or RNC data

 Check areas where RCDS mode will be operated, identify whether appropriate sets of

paper charts are carried.

 Check local requirements of coastal states that may require carriage of additional

publications or local charts

 Check that electronic charts have been updated to the most recent version and chart

permit licences have been bought

 Route check previous passage plans after chart updating to ensure that any new dangers

added don’t present a risk to the ship.

 Modifications to the passage plan may be necessary to accommodate new chart features

such as reporting schemes, traffic separation schemes (TSS), isolated dangers, etc.
  When planning new waypoints and courses, always use the largest scale possible so all

features of the chart can be readily identified, and risk assessed

 Ensure that the plan takes into account sufficient cross track error (XTE) to accommodate

any deviations for collision avoidance or currents.

 Ensure adequate values are inputted for safety contour and depth alarms

 Once the route has been planned, check the entire passage plan berth to berth on a 1:1

scale by manually scrolling along the track

 If the route has been planned in conjunction with paper charts, cross-check the distances

between the paper chart and electronic passage plans to ensure consistency

 Check that tidal information is up to date and correct

 Check that the ETA has been updated

 Check that accurate draft details have been entered, Squat details should be considered

 Make a back-up copy of the plan and save on a separate disk (usually USB stick)

EXECUTION AND MONITORING:

 Check that the display has been set-up properly prior to sailing, otherwise important information may

not be displayed.

 Always operate ENC on the best scale possible to avoid crucial information being auto filtered and

subsequently not being displayed.

 Avoid using ‘base display’ mode as this only displays the minimum amount of features and

information

 Use ‘full display’ mode, but layers of information may need to be de-selected to avoid cluttering the

display with too much information.

 Auto-filter or ‘SCAMIN’ may affect the display as it tends to remove information from the display if the

best scale chart is not being used. Operators should know how to select the best scale chart to avoid

the auto-filter feature removing information when using ENCs

 Ensure the GPS unit providing constant position fixing information to ECDIS has been updated with

any relevant chart datum offset if the chart datum used in the raster chart is different from WGS (84).

Failure to do so may result in positions being inaccurate

 Do not solely rely upon GPS position fixing when there are alternative position fixing facilities

available. GPS is subject to a variety of different errors

 Traditional forms of position fixing should never be overlooked or replaced when using ECDIS; these

can include but are not limited to:

a) Visual bearings

b) Radar ranges and bearings using variable range markers (VRMs) and electronic bearing lines (EBL)

c) Transit bearings and clearing ranges

d) Running fixes

e) Fixing by a line of soundings

f) Horizontal sextant angles (HSAs) g) Positions by celestial means (sextant)

 Make use of the Marine Information Objects (MIO) capability to plot electronically navigational

warnings (e.g. NAVAREA warnings)