Tag: IMO NAV57

John Erik Hagen is remarkably relaxed given the scale of the task appointed to him. The regional director of the Norwegian Coastal Administration is also chair of the IMO intercessional working group on e-Navigation and he chaired the working group held during the recent NAV 57 sub-committee meeting.

Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of IMO. Courtesy of IMO

His task is a little akin to re-wiring the shipping industry, but involves writing the specification as it evolves, connecting some existing components with some yet to be invented ones while using a new language as the basis of communications.

July 1, 2012 marks the first milestone on the path to ECDIS implementation; the first of the IMO’s deadlines on the path to ‘full ECDIS’ by 2018. It also puts down something of a marker for the e-navigation concept, currently under development at IMO.

E-navigation might take another ten years to come to fruition – and it might not end up as part of the SOLAS Convention in the way that ECDIS has – but it is clear that ECDIS will play a central role in e-navigation.

The IMO correspondence group which leads work on e-navigation is finalising its report for submission to the IMO NAV57 sub-committee meeting in June. The report will summarise the work done to date and include a gap analysis which sets out requirements for systems, the options available, how these fall short or differ from requirements and what needs to be done to fill the gap.

Dr Nick Ward, of the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA), fresh from an IALA meeting on e-navigation, gave us an update on the key issues from his organisation’s perspective.