Hoegh spurns ECDIS - for now

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Thursday, 14 May 2009

NORWEGIAN-based Hoegh Fleet Services is switching back from electronic to paper charts as the primary navigational tool for the Hogh Autoliners fleet of more than 20 car carriers. The ships will still have electronic charts on board but will they not be approved Electronic Navigational Charts as defined by IMO and will therefore be “aids to navigation”. The move is largely due to the expense of using official charts supplied by government hydrographic offices. Jeppesen has long been arguing that private companies should also be able to provide approved charts but there is little prospect of IMO changing its rules to allow this. IMO is phasing in the mandatory carriage of ECDIS from 1st July, 2012 over six years.
Jeppesen Marine has announced that a deal was done in February to switch from navigating by Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) to Jeppesen Marine’s C-MAP Professional+ chart database.
“We see this as an excellent way to decrease our operating costs while maintaining the high quality of our navigation tools,” said Magnar Høijord, a marine superintendent with Höegh Fleet Services responsible for navigation systems and services. “We had been using ENCs, but they were very expensive, and we were frustrated by the lack of global coverage. Many areas off of Africa, Australia, South America and the United States west coast are still not well covered.”
Høijord confirmed that the switch from ENC supply to the C-MAP Professional+ chart database will cut their chart supply costs dramatically. The change resulted from an in-house effort to lower operating costs, in response to the slack market. “We will use updated paper charts onboard as our primary navigational source, as required by STCW. Then, with a C-MAP Professional+ world chart folio onboard our vessels as a support tool for navigators, we feel that we will have a good safety margin. If and when we need to meet mandatory ECDIS rules in five to ten years, we will have no problems making the transition back to ENCs,” said Høijord.
“We want to provide navigators with accurate, easy-to-use navigational solutions that contribute to greater safety,” said Jeppesen Marine marketing manager Willy Zeiler. “This includes paper charts, ENCs, or the high-quality C-MAP Professional+ vector chart data that we will supply to Höegh Autoliners or a well-managed combination, like our Jeppesen PRIMAR ENC Service. Either way, we are leading the way with the functionality, including online updating and dynamic licensing, that will add value to shipowners as they prepare for mandatory ECDIS.”