10 ECDIS Questions SIRE Inspectors Ask and How To Deal With It - MySeaTime

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  
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10 ECDIS questions SIRE inspectors ask and

how to deal with it?
Written by Capt Rajeev Jassal on  May 6, 2020
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-
content/uploads/2020/05/ECDIS-SIRE-Questions.jpg)
content/uploads/2019/03/ECDIS-SIRE-Questions.jpg)I cannot tell
you how much do I enjoy writing on ECDIS.
I truly feel that ECDIS has made the navigation so much safer.
(https://www.myseatime.com)
Well, many still do not agree with this statement and I respect
their opinion
too.  
There is definitely merit in their opinion if that is based on the fact
that not many officers are trained to handle the ECDIS in the right
way.
I personally have seen a few officers sweat out in front of SIRE

inspectors when they ask the questions related to ECDIS.
But they sweat out because they have not been adequately
trained. And even if they wanted to self-train themselves, there is
hardly any user-friendly information available.
But not anymore. No more sweating out for ECDIS questions.
In this blog, we will discuss all that SIRE inspectors ask a 2nd
mate during his bridge inspection.
And I will discuss these with respect to JRC ECDIS.
So let us start with our first question.
Question 1: Can you show me the last passage plan on

ECDIS?
This is the first question and this is the most important one too.
The passage needs to be accurate

(http://shipsbusiness.com/ECDIS-voyage-planning-guide.html)
must follow all the company requirements and must be in
accordance with the industry guidelines.
  
I have covered the general passage planning in this blog
(https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/passage-planning) and
ECDIS passage planning in this one
(https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/ecdis-passage-plan).
Do read these two blogs to get to know about the passage

planning.
But you must cover these areas in the passage plan on ECDIS.
The route
Parallel index lines
No-Go Areas (not excessively marked)
Wheel over position
Abort point (https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/what-is-abort-point-and-how-you-

can-use-it-for-safe-navigation)
Marking of bridge watch levels
Position plotting interval and method at each leg
Security levels and the points where vessels need to be

hardened (https://www.ocimf.org/media/92018/Guidelines-to-
Harden-Vessels.pdf).
Point for notice to the engine room and calling the master
Question 2: Do you perform a route check? How do you

do it?
Route check is a function of the ECDIS which checks the route

and gives all the alarms for which the route is passing through
any dangers.
The 2nd mate then can check each of these alarms to see if the
route needs
to be amended.  
To perform the route check, open the route in the table editor and
click on the “Safety Check”.
content/uploads/2020/05/route_check_opt.jpg)
This would give all the errors in the route. If we select on an error
and click on “Jump” the ECDIS screen will jump to the area of that
error.
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/route-check-
errors.jpg)
2nd Mate can then see if that error is applicable to us or if the

route needs to be amended to avoid that.
2nd Mate needs to check each of these errors one by one to

ensure that our route is safe.
Question 3: How do you make sure your ENCs are

corrected up to date?
To check if the ENCs are corrected up to date on JRC ECDIS, go

to 6.Chart -> ENC update report.
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ENC-update-report-
menu-JRC-ECDIS.jpg)
This will show you the status of all the ENCs and the week
number these ENCs are corrected up to.
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ENC-update-
report.jpg)
Go to Summary and it will show you the total number of ENCs and
how many of these are up to date and how many are not up to
date.
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/summary-of-ENCs-
update-status_JRC-ECDIS.jpg)
If you would like to see the status of ENCs for a particular route
only, make sure to tick the “route filter” and choose the route
from the “select route” dropdown.
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/route-filter-ENC-
status1.jpg)
This will give the ENC status report for the ENCs for the chosen
route.
Question 4: How do you know if you have all the

required ENCs for the route?
The ENC ordering process depends upon your ENC provider.
For example, chartco would have a different procedure

(https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/a-step-by-step-guide-to-
ordering-and-correcting-charts-on-ecdis) for ordering the ENCs
and NAVTOR has a different procedure
(https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/how-to-use-navtor-to-
order-and-correct-encs).
But once you have ordered, received, and updated ENCs in
ECDIS, we
need to check if the ECDIS has 
all the ENCs for the 
next voyage.
Ideally, when we check the ENC update report with route filter
and if any ENC is missing, it would show that in this report.
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ENC-not-up-to-date-
route-filter.jpg)
And when we go to “Status Report”, this would give a clear reason

for the “ENCs not up to date”.
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ENC-missing-Status-
report-Route-filter.jpg)
But with this function, it is only checking ENCs for the route with
the set “Cross-track error” in the ECDIS for that route.
So if we have set the cross-track error as 1NM, this would only

check the ENCs for 1NM from the route.
But that is not enough. We need to have the ENCs for up to at

least for few miles from our route.
I prefer to have ENCs for at least 50NM from our route.

This would mean that in case we need to deviate the ship for any
unforeseenreasons, we still have the ENCsfor at least 4-5 hours 
of the deviation.
One way of checking this is to temporarily increase the cross-

track error limit in the route plan. Then check the ENC status
report with route filter.
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cross-track-error-
ECDIS_opt.jpg)
If the report shows all ENCs up to date then the ECDIS has the
ENCs for the route and up to the (large) cross-track error set in
the route plan.
But some ECDIS has a limitation of maximum cross-track error

that can be set.
So the other way is to get the list of (https://www.myseatime.com)
all the ENCs for the route
from ENC provider
 software (Chartco/Navtor
etc) and check 
physically if these are available in the ECDIS.
If your company subscribe to PAYS (Pay as you go), you only need
to check this for ENCs that are not available under PAYS.
Question 5: How do you plot the Navigation warnings
I have covered this topic in detail in a different blog

(https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/how-to-plot-navigational-
warnings-on-ecdis-the-right-way).
Read it if you have any doubts about how to plot navigation

warnings on ECDIS.
Most of the SIRE inspectors would want to see the navigation

warnings being plotted with “manual update”.
But I and you know that at least on JRC ECDIS, it is much easier to
plot the navigation warning with the user chart.
The problem with the user chart is that it would not generate an
alarm during the route check feature or when you are using the
look-ahead feature.
So if you are plotting the navigation warning with the user chart,
you must have an answer ready for the SIRE inspector.
The answer for “how do you make sure that route does not pass
through dangerous navigation warning plotted with user chart”.
And your answer could be that you check that manually during
planning stage.
the passage  
Question 6: What IHO presentation library your ECDIS

uses? Can you show me?
In layman’s terms, the IHO presentation library

(https://www.irclass.org/technical-circulars/ecdis-iho-presentation-
library-standards/) is the set of instructions to the ECDIS
manufacturers about how the various symbols must be displayed
on the ECDIS.
For example, what color, size, and shape of the symbols must the
ECDIS show on ECDIS.
ECDIS manufacturer needs to develop its software as per these

set of guidelines developed by IHO.
From 2nd mate and seafarer’s point of view, we must know what
presentation library version our ECDIS has.
And if that is the latest IHO presentation library?
If the vessel is not able to show this information on the ECDIS, not
only this be a SIRE observation but during PSC inspections this
can be detainable deficiency too.
So let us check what presentation library this JRC ECDIS has.
On the ECDIS screen, right-click and choose “S-57/C-MAP/ARCS

Information”.
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ECDIS-Presentation-
library_opt.jpg)
Go to “Chart legend” and there you will get the “Presentation

library version”.
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/presentation-library-
ECDIS_opt.jpg)
Apart from this, you need to know what is the latest version of the
presentation library so that you know your ECDIS has the latest
version .
We can get the information about the current version of the

presentation library from the IHO website
(https://iho.int/mtg_docs/enc/ECDIS-ENC_StdsIn_Force.htm), by
contacting the ECDIS maker or simply by asking your company.
Question 7: How do you plot position from sources

other than GPS?
We need to be able to plot position on ECDIS from sources other

than GPS.
The sources like visual bearings, range/bearings, and celestial
observations.
  
While the procedures may be different on different ECDIS but if
you are actually using these features to plot positions, it would be
easier for you to show it to the SIRE inspector.
Here is a blog that I wrote on position fixing

(https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/position-fixing-the-most-
important-element-of-passage-planning) sometime back that
includes position fixing on ECIDS.
Question 8: What ECDIS safety settings are entered

during arrival to this port?
Here is a detailed article on ECDIS safety settings

(https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/be-in-command-by-
knowing-these-ecdis-safety-settings) that I had written earlier.
I assume that you know everything about ECDIS safety settings.

Like what are these safety settings and what value to set for
these settings in the ECDIS.
If you have any doubts, do read the blog on ECDIS safety settings
first.
But even when 2nd mate knows about safety settings, there is
one mistake that I see them making repeatedly.
The mistake is to keep the safety settings constant for the

voyage.
The ECDIS safety setting needs to be dynamic. These need to be
changed during
 the voyage even when the
vessel’s draft remains 
the same.
Usually, the safety settings are calculated with zero height of the
tide.
At the open sea, the vessel’s route must be in safe waters with
these safety settings at zero height of the tide.
But that is not the case with port arrivals and departures.
If the vessel needs to use the height of tide for compliance with
the company’s UKC policy, then the safety settings need to be
changed to include the height of tide too.
Mere doing the UKC calculation with the height of tide is not
enough.
Let us say that for a river port we did the UKC calculation with the
height of tide as 3 meters and UKC is complying with the
company’s UKC policy.
Now, this is the ECDIS route for this river port with initial safety
settings (without the height of tide).
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ECDIS-Route-safety-
settings.jpg)
This would be a SIRE observation.
Because while navigating at no point in time we can pass over the

depth less than safety depth.
Let us say the safety depth calculated and entered here was 13
meters. And if the height of tide while passing this point was 3
meters, we need to adjust (reduce) the safety settings by 3
meters.
In this case, the same ENC would look like this.

  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ECDIS-safety-
settings-with-tide.jpg)
As a practice, we can prepare a list of points (waypoints) where

the safety setting needs to be changed (taking into account the
tide).
Question 9: What procedure you follow when the route

crosses safety contour?
A vessel outside the safety contour is in safe waters.
But that does not mean that all the waters in the safety contour
are not safe.
For example, if we have calculated safety depth as 11 meters then

the nearest safety contour will be 15 meters.
But what if the depths inside the safety contour are in the range
of 13 to 14 
meters.  
These depths are still safe for us because these are more than
our safety depths.
On ECDIS, the unsafe depths (depths less than safety depths) are
shown in dark black color and safe depths are shown in grey
color.
ECDIS is supposed to give an alarm when the vessel crosses a

safety contour.
But after the vessel has crossed safety contour there would be no
alarm in case the vessel is about to run into danger such as
crossing an unsafe depth.
For this reason, we are required to define the procedure we

would follow after crossing the safety contour to ensure that ship
navigates safely.
There are two methods to choose from.
Method 1: After crossing safety contour, Navigator needs to be

more alert and ensure that the vessel does not run over a depth
lesser than safety depth.
This method is based on the careful review of the navigator while

navigating in the area after crossing the safety contour.
Method 2: Or we can use the 2nd method where during the
planning stage,
 2nd mate draws a line with
a manual update 
separating the safe and unsafe areas.
In this case, we need to use the manual update feature so that we

can get the alarm on the ECDIS if the vessel crosses this line.
content/uploads/2020/05/Method_2_crossing_safety_contour_opt.jpg)
It is also required that the company must document in their

procedures as to which method the bridge team should use.
Some companies may direct the master to choose any of the

above two methods.
Question 10: What is scamin and how do you use it?

Let us consider a buoy in an ENC. (https://www.myseatime.com)
  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blog)
ENC maker would have defined (https://www.myseatime.com/knowledgebase)
a minimum (SCAMIN) and (https://www.myseatime.com/profileco
maximum (SCAMAX) scale of ENC at which this buoy would be

visible on the ENC.
Let us say the minimum scale set by the ENC maker is 1:50000.
This means that if you zoom the ENC scale to less than 1:50000,
this buoy would not be visible on the ENC.
Likewise, there could be so many other features (certain

soundings, buoys, pipelines, cables, etc) for which ENC makers
have defines a minimum and maximum scale for its visibility.
However, if we keep the SCAMIN setting to off, irrespective of

how much you zoom in or zoom out, none of these features will
disappear.
Let us first see how to switch it on or off on JRC ECDIS.
Go to Menu 6.Chart -> Settings -> S-57/C-MAP/ARCS Information

  
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SCAMIN-on-and-
off_opt.jpg)
From the option “View Common”, you will find the option to turn
on/off the Scale min under “Chart Symbol”.
  
content/uploads/2020/05/Scale_Minimum_ECDIS_opt.jpg)
But why this feature is given at all?
This is to give an option to the navigator to de-clutter the screen

so that it is more user-friendly during the navigation.
Now the question is what is the correct way to use SCAMIN.
During the passage planning stage, we do not want to miss any of

the features or buoy, etc as we do not want to have our courses
run over these.
So during the planning stage, we are expected to keep the

SCAMIN off.
During navigation, we can keep the (https://www.myseatime.com)
SCAMIN to “on” to declutter
the ECDIS  away from our
screen however if we need to go 
intended route for some reason,
(https://www.myseatime.com/blog) we must turn off the SCAMIN (https://www.myseatime.com/profileco
(https://www.myseatime.com/knowledgebase) to
review the area.
Conclusion
Nowadays, ECDIS is the main area of interest for SIRE inspectors

when it comes to bridge/navigation rounds.
Though it may sometimes seem too much to cover in ECDIS but if

you have your basic questions about ECDIS covered, there is
nothing to sweat about for ECDIS.
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About Capt Rajeev Jassal

Capt. Rajeev Jassal has sailed for over 20 years mainly on crude oil, product
and chemical tankers. He holds MBA in shipping & Logistics degree from
London. He has done extensive research on quantitatively measuring Safety
culture onboard and safety climate ashore which he believes is the most
important element for safer shipping.
  
15 Comments
Mustufa Kamal  Reply
 May 6, 2020
This is really very useful. Thanks a lot for your contribution
Pricop Claudiu  Reply

 May 8, 2020
Good day,Captain.I just like to ask you about W.O. line,because i see a lot of
comments about this line and specially where we put the line for Brg. x Dist. in
the WP or in the position where we will put the W.O. line. Good day and thank
you for your time.
Ye Wunna  Reply
 May 9, 2020
Thanks a lot Capt Well noted.
Eric joseph ebreo  Reply

 May 11, 2020
Thankyou captain, i really learned a lot in your blogs
Kamalakannan C  Reply
 May 11, 2020
Good day sir. The nav warnings are supposed to be done by way of manual
update on the ECDIS, especially if involving navigational marks and changes
to them. The attribute function in manual update take care of lot of additional
features like color / shape / top marks as well as the start and end dates. By
putting an end date of after passing that particular area, the manual update
automatically disables the change. While doing passage plan checks, date
dependent view needs to be enabled. Thanks again.
Filip  Reply
 May 11, 2020
Hello. I would just like to mention one thing referring to the Q5 - ploting nav
warnings with user maps. It is true that warnings plotted like this does not
generate any alarms with one exception. When you're plotting the warning,
and you use the "warning" symbol, in the user maps editor, this symbol will
generate an alarm, if caught by the look ahead sector. And it can be easily
demonstrated to SIRE inspector. Just open a new user maps editor, and plot a
warning symbol in the arc sector of(https://www.myseatime.com)
your look ahead setting. And there you
have it.
  
Harjinder Singh  Reply
 May 16, 2020
Goodday sir great work thanks for efforts..sir can you pls explain how to
calculate and insert wheel over point in ecdis and also how to decide radius
value used in each leg
Saurabh  Reply
 May 18, 2020
This article is of great help Sir, Thank you for your great work.
RAUL  Reply
 Jun 10, 2020
THANKS A LOT SIR OF THOSE POSSIBLE QUESTION BY INSPECTOR OR PSC

I REALLY ENCOUNTERED THAT SUCH QUESTION BY PSC BUT YOURS I
ADMIT AND I READ MUCH GOOD ANSWER OF THOSE QUESTION IVE GAIN
OR LEARNED SOMETHING FOR YOU SIR THANKS FOR YOUR SHARING
Moataz Salah  Reply

 Aug 7, 2020
Dear Gents, FURUNO FMD 3300 Kindly be informed that suddenly I found our
“ECDIS-2 (BACKUP)” wasn’t showing any information such as charts, ship’s
position, AIS targets, etc based on that I start to investigate this issue by
comparing with the main one “ECDIS-1 (MAIN)” which is working very well
without any defects by doing “SELF TEST” for both of them then I noticed that
“ECDIS-2 (BACKUP)” SELF TEST can’t be completed and stuck on [Dongle
information] section and can’t get the below Info. 1. ENC User Permit. 2. ARCS
User Permit. 3. ARCS PIN. 4. C-MAP System ID. So please advise how to fix
this issue.
AUNG SI LWIN  Reply

 Aug 12, 2020
Special thanks for your help, sir. Lets me Noted.
Ramesh kumar  Reply
 Sep 19, 2020
Sir pls make on transas ecdis navi sailor 4000 , how to update how to make
route, how to order chart through navi sailor 4000
Nana (https://www.myseatime.com)  Reply

 Dec 2, 2020  
Thankyou capt, i became more confident for my sire inspection next week
(https://www.myseatime.com/blog)
after read this. (https://www.myseatime.com/knowledgebase)(https://www.myseatime.com/profileco
Thomas  Reply
 Dec 8, 2020
Thank you captain
YAHYA SAIF MOHAMMED  Reply
 Feb 6, 2021
I'm reading it 30 minutes b4 viting ???? thanx mate
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10 ECDIS questions SIRE inspectors ask and

I personally have seen a few officers sweat out in front of SIRE

But not anymore. No more sweating out for ECDIS questions.

And I will discuss these with respect to JRC ECDIS.

So let us start with our first question.

Question 1: Can you show me the last passage plan on

The passage needs to be accurate

Do read these two blogs to get to know about the passage

Parallel index lines

No-Go Areas (not excessively marked)

Wheel over position

Abort point (https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/what-is-abort-point-and-how-you-

Marking of bridge watch levels

Position plotting interval and method at each leg

Security levels and the points where vessels need to be

Question 2: Do you perform a route check? How do you

Route check is a function of the ECDIS which checks the route

2nd Mate can then see if that error is applicable to us or if the

2nd Mate needs to check each of these errors one by one to

Question 3: How do you make sure your ENCs are

To check if the ENCs are corrected up to date on JRC ECDIS, go

Question 4: How do you know if you have all the

The ENC ordering process depends upon your ENC provider.

For example, chartco would have a different procedure

And when we go to “Status Report”, this would give a clear reason

So if we have set the cross-track error as 1NM, this would only

But that is not enough. We need to have the ENCs for up to at

I prefer to have ENCs for at least 50NM from our route.

One way of checking this is to temporarily increase the cross-

But some ECDIS has a limitation of maximum cross-track error

Question 5: How do you plot the Navigation warnings

I have covered this topic in detail in a different blog

Read it if you have any doubts about how to plot navigation

Most of the SIRE inspectors would want to see the navigation

Question 6: What IHO presentation library your ECDIS

In layman’s terms, the IHO presentation library

ECDIS manufacturer needs to develop its software as per these

And if that is the latest IHO presentation library?

So let us check what presentation library this JRC ECDIS has.

On the ECDIS screen, right-click and choose “S-57/C-MAP/ARCS

Go to “Chart legend” and there you will get the “Presentation

We can get the information about the current version of the

Question 7: How do you plot position from sources

We need to be able to plot position on ECDIS from sources other

Here is a blog that I wrote on position fixing

Question 8: What ECDIS safety settings are entered

Here is a detailed article on ECDIS safety settings

I assume that you know everything about ECDIS safety settings.

The mistake is to keep the safety settings constant for the

This would be a SIRE observation.

Because while navigating at no point in time we can pass over the

In this case, the same ENC would look like this.

As a practice, we can prepare a list of points (waypoints) where

Question 9: What procedure you follow when the route

A vessel outside the safety contour is in safe waters.

For example, if we have calculated safety depth as 11 meters then

ECDIS is supposed to give an alarm when the vessel crosses a

For this reason, we are required to define the procedure we

There are two methods to choose from.

Method 1: After crossing safety contour, Navigator needs to be

This method is based on the careful review of the navigator while

In this case, we need to use the manual update feature so that we