Passage Planning Guidelines, 2026-27 Edition

The following titles are included:

• 'Passage Planning Guidelines 2026-27 Edition'

• 'Radar and ARPA'

• 'Safe Nav Watch'

• 'Teamwork on the Nav Bridge'.

'Passage Planning Guidelines 2026-27 Edition' focuses on the appraisal and preparation stages of voyage planning using traditional methods, paper charts and ECDIS. This edition now includes two new chapters covering execution and monitoring, as well as new guidance on preparation for PSC, audits and inspections.

The Guidelines reflect the industry's shift towards ECDIS and ENCs as the primary means of navigation, while still covering traditional paper chart methods. This edition provides updated imagery, detailed ECDIS passage planning guidance and practical calculation examples. The annexes of the 'Passage Planning Guidelines 2026-27' provide detailed templates of passage planning checklists, including an ECDIS planning checklist and appraisal report.

'Safe Nav Watch' provides essential guidance on safe navigational watchkeeping, identifying potential hazards and how to avoid them. Drawing on the expertise of experienced mariners, the book reinforces best practices in line with all applicable SOLAS amendments and bridge equipment performance standards.

Advice relating to bridge practices for navigating extreme weather, has been expanded with updated guidance on weather routeing and charts. New sections on helicopter operations, anchoring and watchkeeping at anchor have been added to bridge practices for navigating coastal areas. Chapter 8:'Lessons from Navigation Incidents', features new and current case studies which analyse real-world errors and advise the industry-approved best practices for preventing similar incidents.

'Teamwork on the Nav Bridge' is based on original text from a leading trainer of cockpit resource management. The text has been fully revised and updated to reflect the importance of defending against the consequences of human error. It includes guidance on subjects such as situational awareness, decision-making by the bridge team and the concept of bridge resource management (BRM). It also details the importance of keeping fit for duty, ensuring adequate rest and managing the circumstances that contribute to fatigue on board.

Radar is a vital tool for safe navigation and collision avoidance at sea, providing continuous situational awareness in both clear and restricted visibility. A new 'Radar and ARPA' guide has been added to the 2026-27 Guidelines. It explores the principles of marine radar operation, the integration of ARPA for target tracking and the essential skills required for effective radar interpretation. Covering key regulations, including Rule 7 of the COLREGs, and the importance of understanding radar capabilities and limitations, this book is an essential resource for navigators seeking to enhance their proficiency in radar use.

A passage plan, or voyage plan, is developed by a navigation officer as a way of safely identifying a suitable route a ship can take from one location to another, usually from a berth at one port to a berth at another. Effective passage plans require skill, experience and meticulous research. While one officer is primarily in charge of creating the plan, prior to use it should be verified by the entire bridge team and approved by the Master. It is a task that is vital for the safety of the ship and carries a weight of responsibility. The consequences of omitting important information and/or failing to safely plan the passage can be serious for the ship and its crew, and therefore it is not something that should be taken lightly.

The navigation officer preparing the passage plan (the ‘navigator’) must be diligent and seek to produce a comprehensive and detailed ‘berth to berth’ plan based on a full appraisal, taking into account all possibilities and eventualities. The plan should remove all risk, where possible, and where risk may still exist, it should be reduced to the safest minimum possible.

An effective passage plan, whether completed using paper charts, ECDIS or both, must:

• Establish appropriate safety settings or margins for each stage of the voyage, taking into account the requirements of the company’s safety management system (SMS)
• clearly define a safe navigational route from berth to berth
• be comprehensive and contain an appropriate level of detail for each leg of the voyage
• reduce navigational risks to as low as reasonably practicable
• be easy to understand and follow by any officer involved in navigation of the ship
• include contingency options and abort points at critical areas
• satisfy environmental protection requirements and highlight any MARPOL or ECA areas that may be of concern
• include details of all radiocommunication requirements
• be checked visually and electronically by the bridge team
• be reviewed and approved by the Master, prior to the execution and monitoring stages
• during appraisal, review the CATZOC in all port areas, If the CATZOC is low or ‘unassessed’ further research should be carried out to obtain the accuracy of the seabed data.

In November 2021, the UK Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision that a defective passage plan effectively renders the ship legally unseaworthy. In the case in question, a large container ship went aground. The company was held liable for several million dollars when it was determined that the chart had not been properly updated. It was confirmed that the passage plan (appraisal and planning stages) and subsequent navigation outside a buoyed fairway did not reflect a warning given in a Notice to Mariners. The warning stated that the depths shown on the chart outside the fairway were unreliable and that the waters were shallower than those recorded on the chart.

Therefore, the importance of a well-made passage plan should not be underestimated.

Passage Planning Guidelines 2026-27 Edition -

Chapter 1 - Introduction
1 Effective Passage Planning
1.1 The Requirement for a Comprehensive Passage Plan
1.2 The Four Stages of Planning
1.3 Responsibility
Chapter 2 - Appraisal
2 Gathering Information
2.1 Carriage Requirements for Charts and Nautical Publications
2.2 Preliminary Research - Overview
2.3 Destination and Routeing
2.4 Tidal Data and UKC Calculations
2.5 ‘Ocean Passages for the World’
2.6 Passage Planning Guides
2.7 Weather and Environment
2.8 Paper Charts
2.9 ENCs and ECDIS
2.10 Passage Planning in Ice Regions
2.11 Final Considerations
2.12 Appraisal Findings
Chapter 3 - Passage Planning on Paper Charts
3 Planning using Paper Charts
3.1 Voyage Overview
3.2 Chart Preparation
3.3 Plotting Courses
3.4 Speed on Passage Legs
3.5 Pilotage
3.6 Port Approaches
3.7 Coastal and Ocean Passages
3.8 Planning a Canal Transit
3.9 Contingency Planning
3.10 Master’s Review and Bridge Team Meeting
3.11 Coastal Passage - Example
Chapter 4 - Passage Planning on ECDIS
4 Planning using ECDIS
4.1 ECDIS Overview
4.2 Voyage Overview
4.3 ECDIS Settings
4.4 Route Creation
4.5 Mariner-added Objects
4.6 Manual Updates
4.7 Route Check
4.8 Master’s Approval and Bridge Team Briefing
Chapter 5 - Execution and Monitoring
5.1 Execution
5.2 Monitoring
Chapter 6 - Case Studies
6.1 Case Studies Introduction
6.2 Case Studies
Chapter 7 - Preparation for PSC, Audits and Inspections
7 Introduction
7.1 Documents and Records
7.2 Passage Plans, Charts and Publications
7.3 ECDIS
7.4 Navigational Equipment
7.5 Bridge Equipment and Arrangements
7.6 Emergency Systems
7.7 GMDSS Installations
7.8 Bridge Watchkeeping
Annexes
Annex A - Example Appraisal Report Format
Annex B - Passage Planning Checklists
Annex C - ECDIS Planning Checklists
Annex D - Parallel Indexing
Annex E - Example Passage Plan Worksheet Format
Annex F - Example of Passage Planning Notes
Annex G - ECDIS References
Annex H - List of Useful Publications
Annex I - ECDIS Display Options

Radar and ARPA

Chapter 1 - Principles of Radar
1.1 Radio Waves and Propagation
1.2 Radar Equipment
1.3 Radar Controls
1.4 Symbols for Controls
1.5 Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA)
1.6 Trial Manoeuvres
Chapter 2 - Radar and ARPA Requirements
2.1 SOLAS Requirements
2.2 Performance Standards
2.3 IMO Model Courses
Chapter 3 - Set-up and Use of the Radar
3.1 Set-up
3.2 Consistent Common Reference Point (CCRP)
3.3 Radar Modes of Display
3.4 Relative Motion (RM) Display
3.5 True Motion (TM) Display
3.6 Trails
3.7 Vectors
3.8 Use During Navigation and Collision Avoidance
3.9 Parallel Indexing (PI) Techniques
3.10 Performance Monitor
3.11 Use of Radar with Other Electronic Equipment
Chapter 4 - Radar/ARPA Limitations and Emergency Actions in the Event of Failure
4.1 Overview
4.2 Limitations of Radar
4.3 Emergency Actions in the Event of Radar Failure

Safe Nav Watch

Part 1 - Bridge Equipment
Chapter 1 - Carriage Requirements
1.1 SOLAS Equipment List for Ships
1.2 GMDSS Equipment
1.3 Bridge Equipment Connections
1.4 Performance Standards
Chapter 2 - Overview and Usage
2.1 Bridge Equipment (Overview and Usage)
2.2 Integrated Bridge Systems
2.3 GNSS
2.4 Ship’s Compasses
2.5 ECDIS/Paper Charts
2.6 Chart Radar
2.7 Automatic Identification System (AIS)
2.8 Autopilot Heading/Track Control Systems
2.9 Communications Equipment
2.10 Echosounder
2.11 Ship’s Log (Speed Log)
2.12 Loran-C/eLoran
2.13 Telegraph
2.14 Steering Gear
2.15 Thrusters
Chapter 3 - Auxiliary Bridge Equipment
3.1 Signal and Navigation Lights
3.2 External Sound Signalling Equipment
3.3 Internal Communications
3.4 Internal Monitoring Systems
3.5 Other Bridge Equipment
3.6 Intelligent Navigation Systems
Part 2 - Bridge Practices
Chapter 4 - Prerequisites for Watchkeepers
4.1 Watch Arrangements
4.2 Fitness for Duty
4.3 Master’s Standing Orders
4.4 Likelihood of an Accident Occurring
4.5 Preventing Complacency at Sea
4.6 The Use of Checklists
Chapter 5 - Watchkeeping
5.1 Bridge Familiarisation
5.2 Proceeding to Sea
5.3 Maintaining a Proper Lookout
5.4 Nav Watch Rating
5.5 Keeping a Safe Navigational Watch
5.6 Logbooks
5.7 Conning
5.8 Collision Avoidance
5.9 OOW Watch Handovers
5.10 OOW/Master Relationship
Chapter 6 - Weather
6.1 General Considerations
6.2 Weather Routeing
6.3 Weather Charts
6.4 Responsibilities of the OOW in Heavy Weather
6.5 Navigation in Restricted Visibility
6.6 Navigation in Ice
6.7 Tropical Revolving Storm (TRS)
Chapter 7 - Coastal Navigation
7.1 Coastal Navigation
7.2 Pilot on Board
7.3 VTS/VTIS
7.4 Traffic Separation Schemes
7.5 Helicopter Operations
7.6 Anchoring and Watchkeeping at Anchor
Part 3 - Emergencies and Lessons Learned
Chapter 8 - Emergencies
8.1 General
8.2 MOB
8.3 Fire
8.4 SAR
8.5 Collision
8.6 Groundings
8.7 Medical Emergencies
8.8 Blackout/Power Failure
8.9 GNSS Jamming/Spoofing
Chapter 9 - Lessons from Navigation Incidents
9.1 ‘Royal Majesty’
9.2 ‘Express Samina’
9.3 ‘Hyundai Dominion’ and ‘Sky Hope’
9.4 ‘Princess of the Stars’
9.5 ‘Cosco Busan’
9.6 ‘Costa Concordia’
9.7 ‘El Faro’
9.8 ‘Star Pride’
9.9 ‘Nova Cura’
9.10 CMA CGM ‘Vasco de Gama’
9.11 ‘L’Austral’
9.12 ‘Huayang Endeavour’ and ‘Seafrontier’
9.13 ‘Sanchi’ and ‘CF Crystal’
9.14 ‘Wakashio’
9.15 ‘Captain V. Madias’
9.16 ‘World Diana’
9.17 ‘Dali’
9.18 ‘Solong’ and ‘Stena Immaculate’

Teamwork on the Nav Bridge

Chapter 1 - What do we Mean by ‘Human Error’?
1.1 Description of Human Error
1.2 Consequences of Human Error
Chapter 2 - Defences Against the Consequences of Human Error
2.1 Technology
2.2 Understanding Human Performance
2.3 Communication
2.4 Intervening with Senior Officers
2.5 Target Fascination and Reduced Processing
2.6 Situational Awareness
2.7 Decision-making
Chapter 3 - Bridge Resource Management (BRM)
3.1 Attitudes and Leadership
3.2 Leadership on the Nav Bridge
3.3 What Makes an Effective Bridge Team?
3.4 Bridge Organisation
3.5 Shared Understanding
Chapter 4 - Working with a Pilot on Board
4.1 What Changes when the Pilot Comes on Board?
4.2 The Master-Pilot Exchange (MPX)
4.3 During the Voyage
Chapter 5 - Keeping Fit for Duty
5.1 Inadequate Rest
5.2 Stress
5.3 Working at Night and in Darkness
5.4 Getting a Good Sleep
5.5 Protecting Your Eyes
5.6 Preventing Drug Abuse
5.7 Alcohol Consumption
Chapter 6 - Fatigue
6.1 Fitness for Duty
6.2 What Causes Fatigue?
6.3 How Does Fatigue Affect Performance?
6.4 Napping (Short Shallow Sleep)
6.5 Fatigue Management

Witherbys

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