Totem ECDIS was the first in the world (and currently the ONLY one) to provide Decision Support tools for collision avoidance. Several collisions during the last year demonstrated the need for such tool, which is MUCH MORE THAN ARPA. Reminder: The decision support tool gives the OOW a concrete advice on required course change or speed reduction needed to be at a safe distance from all targets. In the next circular we will show a concrete example on how Totem ECDIS could have helped to avoid a disastrous collision with significant loss of lives.

In this circular we want to show another unique feature of Totem ECDIS, intended to prevent “ECDIS assisted” accidents. Concrete warning on this subject was given in BIMCO report http://www.bimco.org/en/News/2011/11/30_Feature_Week_48.aspx: “where Officers are inadequately trained and the equipment is incorrectly set-up then things go wrong”. Several groundings, says the article, were marked as “ECDIS assisted”.

To avoid such ECDIS-assisted incidents, a new feature in Totem ECDIS is the Change Shift procedure. The need for such a module was demonstrated in several incidents involving wrong use of ECDIS by navigators, either due to ignorance of the OOW or due to incorrect setup of the ECDIS. The procedure should be implemented at the beginning of each shift on the bridge by the OOW commencing a watch The Change Shift test will give the OOW a clear picture of the system functionality and will ascertain that the system is ready for the shift period. A set of dozen tests is carried out during a period of 1 to 3 minutes, covering important items such as GPS position verification, safety contours, ascertaining safe course and updated charts for the next watch etc. The procedure contains shortcut buttons that makes the checking procedure very easy and friendly, with hints and assistance where required.