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Droggies
put ENC on map
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Riding
high in the water the tanker is secured as Melbourne’s
RHIB races to collect the boarding party. Overhead, her
Seahawk keeps close watch on the situation.
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The
Navy’s Australian Hydrographic Service recently released the
first of its Australian Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) series.
Known as Seafarer ENC, the new chart products will eventually replace
paper chart navigation on all RAN ships and submarines.
Australian electronic charts are already being used in conjunction
with Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) on
many commercial and merchant vessels, including the newest P &
O cruise ship Aurora, which visited Australian recently.
ECDIS is computer-based navigation equipment displaying and analysing
electronic chart data and automatically triggering alarms and warnings,
such as when a vessel is approaching shallow water.
On July 1 this year, navigation using ECDIS was formally recognised
in Chapter V of the UN Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS
V).
At a recent ceremony to mark this recognition, CAPT Bruce Kafer
(COMAUSNAVHYDROGRP and Hydrographer of Australia) presented Dr Ken
Moss (Chairman, Australian Maritime Safety Authority) with a CD-ROM
containing Australia’s first electronic charts for use in ECDIS.
Capt Kafer said: “Seafarer ENC complements our existing electronic
charts and will be available in stages. Our first priority is the
Torres Strait and Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region because it is
navigationally restrictive and an environmentally sensitive area
containing major shipping channels, major ports and harbour approaches.
“The first of our ENCs cover large sections of the compulsory
pilotage routes in the GBR from Weipa to Cape Grenville. They contain
much more information than is shown on paper charts. For example,
certain areas provide depth contours at one-metre intervals. The
extra depth contours permit the full capabilities of ECDIS, particularly
the safety depth alarm functions, to be used most effectively —
something not possible using paper charts or non-government electronic
charts produced from simply digitising paper charts.”
The Navy version of ECDIS, known as the Navigation Display System
(NDS) will be fitted to all RAN vessels between 2004 and 2006.
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