On 16 December 2015, at 20:14 local time, the Thorco Cloud and
the Stolt Commitment collided in the Singapore Strait resulting in
the unnecessary deaths of six seafarers. This incident should have
been avoided, and this article discusses how the Electronic Chart
Display Information System (ECDIS) and traditional navigation
skills should be used to reduce the risk of such incidents
occurring in the future.
Currently, 51% of the Safety of Life at Sea
(SOLAS) fleet uses Electronic Navigation Charts
(ENCs). With the staged introduction over the next
two years of the mandatory carriage of ECDIS for the remaining
class of vessels – as well as the requirement to comply with
the Manila amendments to the The International Convention on
Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers
(STCW) code – it is timely to review the
role of ECDIS in collision avoidance, with the hope of reversing
the worrying trend where vessels that are currently fitted with
ECDIS
