ECDIS Safety Settings & UKC Management

This guide to ECDIS safety settings and UKC management outlines how safety settings can be understood by the ECDIS operator and how UKC should be calculated and effectively managed on board ships. It includes worked examples to illustrate best practice and topics covered include:

• Safety depth and safety contour
• display settings
• isolated dangers
• squat
• tidal heights
• UKC calculations.

This booklet aims to provide a deeper insight into the principal ECDIS safety settings and provide guidance to ensure they are understood by the ECDIS operator. It explains how under keel clearance (UKC) should be calculated and effectively managed by the navigator.

The information contained here is not a substitute for correct adherence to company safety management system (SMS) requirements or the manufacturer’s own operational manuals.

ECDIS safety settings must be configured correctly to ensure sufficient UKC, to ensure correct interpretation of the ENC and to ensure that charted objects on the ENC are properly identified by the ECDIS as dangers or hazards to navigation.

The essential ECDIS safety settings to understand include:

Settings

Contour

Depth

Contour

Contour

Clearances

Danger (symbols and attributes)

Area/Safety Frame

Check/Cross Track Distance (XTD).

Correct safety settings are essential for safe navigation.

Safety settings should be carefully considered to ensure sufficient UKC, XTD and vertical clearance throughout the voyage.

Critically, it must be ensured that the calculated safety settings have been entered correctly. If settings are configured correctly, the ECDIS will alarm when the ship approaches shallow waters, crosses the Safety Contour or approaches other hazards to navigation.

1. ECDIS Safety Settings

1.1 Introduction

1.2 ECDIS Alerts

1.3 Chart Accuracy and Data Quality

1.4 ECDIS Display Settings

1.5 Safety Contour

1.6 Safety Depth

1.7 Shallow Contour and Deep Contour

1.8 Isolated Dangers

1.9 UKC Management

1.10 Detection Area

1.11 Route Check – Safety Corridor Settings

1.12 Summary

2 Safety Contour – Worked Examples

2.1 Safety Contour – Worked Examples

2.2 Safety Settings – Summary

Further Guidance

Witherbys

Witherbys titles are developed using scripts developed by technical experts that are peer reviewed within work groups. Typically, they seek to improve understanding of the regulations, recommendations and guidelines issued by Industry.

Witherbys staff have significant expertise in the fields of navigation and hazardous cargoes as well as in the presentation of complex subjects in a graphic and easy to understand manner.