Tag: S-100

“Why exactly are you writing about S-100?” asks Jonathan Pritchard, more in amusement than suspicion. I get the impression that he and colleague Barrie Greenslade don’t get many requests to talk about their efforts to develop a completely new standard for the way ECDIS handles and displays information.

My explanation – that it’s Admiralty’s job to be interested in this sort of thing – seems to do the trick and before long the pair are chatting in detail about the process and what it will mean to mariners, finishing each other’s sentences and trading anecdotes as people who work closely tend to do.

We are getting tantalising glimpses of the future of navigation at Nor-Shipping and more were provided at a seminar yesterday given by Admiralty’s Hugh Phillips and Pete Hatton.

The format was more discussion group than presentation – a welcome relief from the barrage of briefings and conferences this week – and both men were keen to stress this was an exercise in gauging owner/operator reaction to the subject.

The IMO’s e-navigation concept is at a critical juncture. Having emerged at a relatively slow pace and somewhat in the background, news coverage earlier this year has sought to portray the process as either flawed or at least deeply confused.

In fact, the debate which followed the recent floating seminar on e-navigation suggests the endeavour is probably more misunderstood than misplaced – certainly subject to the IMO’s consensus process, but with plenty of people prepared to defend it.