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• Marshall Islands has issued circular 7-41-6 regarding Nautical charts and publication carriage and ECDIS requirement.

A. Nautical charts carriage requirement ( Paper charts and ECDIS )

a) All vessels shall carry an adequate portfolio of nautical charts updated to the latest edition of Notices to Mariners available on board for their planned voyage. All charts shall be of a large enough scale and have enough detail to make safe navigation of the area possible

b) As defined by SOLAS V/2.2, nautical charts are issued officially by or on the authority of a Government, authorized Hydrographic Office or other relevant government institutions.

c) The company is to determine the form of charts used on board as the primary means of navigation  and the form of chart used as the primary means of navigation shall be indicated in the Company’s Safety Management System (SMS).

d) All navigation work must be done on the form of chart indicated in the Company’s SMS.

e) The RMI recognizes that an ECDIS unit satisfies the chart carriage requirement of SOLAS V/19.2.1.4, provided that it meets the following criteria:

• Conforms to the relevant International Maritime Organization (IMO) performance standards;
• Uses up to date electronic nautical charts (ENCs);
• Is maintained to be compatible with the latest applicable International Hydrographic (IHO) standards; and

f) An ECDIS that is not updated to the latest version of the IHO Standards may not meet the chart carriage requirements as set out in SOLAS V/19.2.1.4. As per Circular MSC.1/Circ.1503, it is important that the software meet the most current IHO Standards to ensure that an ENC is correctly displayed.

g) In areas for which ENCs have not been issued or are not of an appropriate scale for the planning and display of the vessel’s voyage plan, either the ECDIS can be used in the Raster Chart Display System (RCDS) mode or paper nautical charts can be used. If an ECDIS is operated in the RCDS mode, an appropriate portfolio of up-to-date paper charts must be carried on board and be available for use.

B. ECDIS Training

a) The mandatory training requirement of STCW apply to all ship fitted with ECDIS, even if paper charts are indicated in the company SMS as the primary means of navigation.

b) All master and deck office are required to complete two level of training

1. Generic ( simulator based )
2. Type specific

c) The type specific training is be completed in accordance with shipboard SMS procedure.

d) Every Master and deck officer assigned to a vessel fitted with ECDIS must be certificated as competent in the use of ECDIS as required by STCW Tables A-II/1, II/2, and II/3 

C. Nautical Publication

a) Vessels shall carry sailing directions, lists of lights, notices to mariners, tide tables, and current table for the vessel’s planned voyage in accordance with SOLAS V/19.2.1 and V/27 and to be updated. Other publications, including a nautical almanac and coast pilots (where issued) shall also be carried.

b) Any nautical publications required by port state regulations for ports where the vessel will be calling during a voyage, are on board and updated with the latest published corrections.

c) Nautical publications shall be issued officially by or on the authority of a Government, authorized Hydrographic Office, or other relevant government institution.

d) Electronic nautical publications may be used to either partly or fully fulfil the requirements of SOLAS, Chapter V, provided the following conditions are met:

1. Nautical publications required for intended voyage planning must be provided with electronic or paper back-up arrangements.

2. Relevant back-up copies must be corrected and ready for use when needed.

3. When an electronic back-up is carried, portions of the publication needed for the planned voyage shall be printed and included with the voyage plan unless the electronic back-up is an independent computer system with its own emergency source of power.

• Ship owners/ operators and masters are advised to be guided by above

Enclosure:

1. RMI Marine notice 7-41-6 regarding Nautical charts and publication carriage and ECDIS requirement.

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