Appraisal is the process of gathering all information relevant to the proposed

voyage, including ascertaining risks and assessing its critical areas.

An overall assessment of the intended voyage should be made by the master, in

consultation with the navigating officer and other deck officers who will be involved, after
all relevant information has been gathered.
This appraisal will provide the master and his bridge team with a clear and
precise indication of all areas of danger,(wrecks,shoals,gun firing etc. )
and delineate(draw)
the areas in which it will be possible to navigate safely taking into account the
calculated draught of the vessel and planned under-keel clearance.
Bearing in mind the condition of the vessel, her equipment and any other
circumstances, a balanced judgement of the (borders)margins of safety which must be
allowed in the various sections of the intended voyage can now be made, agreed and
understood by all concerned.

Once a full appraisal has been carried out the navigating officer carries out the
Planning process, acting on the master’s instructions.
The detailed plan should cover the whole voyage, from berth to berth, and include all
waters where a pilot will be on board. (pilot to berth-pilot to pilot)
The plan should be completed and include all the relevant factors.

The appropriate charts should be marked clearly showing all areas of danger and the
intended track taking into account the margins of allowable error.
Where appropriate, due regard should be paid to the need for advanced warning to be
given on one chart of the existence of a navigational hazard immediately on transfer to
the next.
The planned track should be plotted to clear hazards at as safe a distance(don’t go
near) as circumstances allow.
A longer route should always be accepted in preference to a shorter more hazardous
route. The possibility of main engine or steering gear breakdown at a critical moment
must not be overlooked.
Additional information which should be marked on the charts include:
All radar-conspicuous objects and RACONs,

which may be used in radar position fixing.

((http://www.splashmaritime.com.au/Marops/data/text/Navtex/Navplot.htm))

Any transit marks, clearing bearings or clearing ranges (radar) which may be used to
advantage. It is sometimes possible to use two conspicuous clearing marks where a line
drawn through them runs clear of natural dangers with the appropriate margin of safety;
if the vessel proceeds on the safe side of this transit she will be clear of the danger.

If no clearing marks are available, a line or lines of bearing from a single object may be
drawn at a desired safe distance from the danger; provided the vessel remains in the
safe segment, it will be clear of the danger. Parallel index lines should also be drawn
where appropriate.
If an ECS- electronic chart system is used to assist voyage planning the plan should
also be drawn up on the paper charts.
Where official (ENC) vector data is available an ECDIS provided with fully compliant
ENC data for the vessel’s voyage may be used instead of paper charts.
Raster Chart Display Systems (RCDS) using official and up to date Raster charts can
be used in conjunction with paper charts to assist voyage planning and route
monitoring.
Hazards should be marked on the RCDS as well as on the paper chart. Systems that
use unofficial chart data should not be used for voyage planning or navigation.
Depending on circumstances, the main details of the plan should be marked in
appropriate and prominent places on the charts to be used during the voyage.
They should also be programmed and stored electronically on an ECDIS or RCDS
where fitted.
The main details of the voyage plan should also be recorded in a bridge notebook used
specially for this purpose to allow reference to details of the plan at the conning position
without the need to consult the chart.
Supporting information relative to the voyage, such as times of high and low water, or of
sunrise or sunset, should also be recorded in this notebook.
It is unlikely that every detail of a voyage will have been anticipated, particularly in
pilotage waters. Much of what will have been planned may have to be adjusted or
changed after embarking the pilot. This in no way detracts from the real value of the
plan, which is to mark out in advance, areas where the vessel must not go and the
appropriate precautions which must be taken, and to give initial warning that the vessel
is standing into danger.
Execution of the finalised the voyage plan should be carried out taking into account all
the factors. The Master should take into account any special circumstances which may
arise, such as changes in weather, which may require the plan to be reviewed or
altered.
Monitoring is a dynamic risk assessment and a continuous process of monitoring
the vessel’s progress along the pre-planned track. The officer of the watch, whenever in
any doubt as to the position of the vessel or the manner in which the voyage is
proceeding, should immediately call the master and, if necessary, take appropriate
action for the safety of the vessel.
The performance of navigational equipment should be checked prior to sailing, prior to
entering restricted or hazardous waters and at regular and frequent intervals at other
times throughout the voyage.
Advantage should be taken of all the navigational equipment with which the vessel is
fitted for position monitoring, bearing in mind the following points:
a.) positions obtained by electronic positioning systems must be checked regularly by
visual bearings and transits whenever available;
b.) visual fixes should, if possible, be based on at least three position lines;
c.) transit marks, clearing bearings and clearing ranges (radar) can be of great
assistance;
d.) it is dangerous to rely solely on the output from a single positioning system;
e.) the echo sounder provides a valuable check of depth at the plotted position;
f.) buoys should not be used for position fixing but may be used for guidance when
shore marks are difficult to distinguish visually; in these circumstances their positions
should first be checked by other means;
g.) the charted positions of offshore installations should be checked against the most
recent navigational notices;
h.) the functioning and correct reading of the instruments used should be checked;
i.) account must be taken of any system errors and the predicted accuracy of positions
displayed by electronic position fixing systems; and
j.) the frequency at which the position is to be fixed should be determined for each
section of the voyage.
Each time the vessel’s position is fixed and marked on the chart in use, the estimated
position at a convenient interval of time in advance should be projected and plotted.
With ECDIS or RCDS care should be taken to ensure that the display shows sufficient
“look-ahead” distance and that the next chart can be readily accessed.
Radar can be used to advantage in monitoring the position of the vessel by the use of
parallel indexing, which is a simple and most effective way of continuously monitoring
that a vessel is maintaining its track in restricted coastal waters. Parallel indexing can
be used in any situation where a radar-conspicuous navigation mark is available and it
is practicable to monitor continuously the vessel’s position relative to such an object. It
also serves as a valuable check on the vessel’s progress when using an electronic
chart.
Charts
The charts or ECDIS must be of such a scale and contain sufficient detail as clearly to
show;
1. all navigational marks which may be used by a ship when navigating the waters which
are covered by the chart;
2. all known dangers affecting those waters; and
3. information concerning any ships’ routeing and ship reporting measures applicable to
those waters.
All charts and publications must be of the latest obtainable edition and be kept up to
date from the latest relevant obtainable notices to mariners and radio navigational
warnings.
The following publications should be consulted when voyage planning;
 International Code of Signals (IMO)
 IAMSAR Manual Vol.III
 Mariners’ Handbook (UKHO)
 Merchant Shipping Notices, Marine Guidance Notes and Marine Information Notes
(MCA)
 Notices to Mariners (UKHO)
 Notices to Mariners Annual Summary (UKHO)
 Lists of Radio Signals (UKHO)Â
 Lists of Lights (UKHO)
 Sailing Directions (UKHO)
 Nautical Almanac
 Navigational Tables
 Tide Tables
 Tidal Stream Atlases
 Operating and Maintenance Instructions for Navigational Aids carried by the Ship
The navigator responsible for planning the voyage should also use their personal
experience and if available any previous voyage plans.
To comply with the Radio Regulations published by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), ships to which the Merchant Shipping (Radio
Installation) Regulations (SI 1998/2070) apply i.e. passenger ships and other ships of
300 gt or more on international voyages, when provided with equipment for use in sea
areas A2, A3 or A4 i.e. beyond VHF range of coast stations, shall also carry the
following publications of the ITU:
 List VIIA, the Alphabetical List of Call Signs and Numerical Table of Identity of Stations.
 The Manual for Use by the Maritime Mobile and Maritime Mobile Satellite Services.
References
SOLAS Chapter 5, Annexes 24 & 25 titled “Voyage Planning” and “Guidelines for
voyage planning”
 International Chamber of Shipping, Bridge Procedures Guide
 The Annex to IMO Resolution A.893(2

PASSAGE PLANNING.

From company’s SMS manual to the tons of publications, there

is a wealth of information and resources but not enough
guidelines on how each resource complement the other.

I will discuss about the initial stage of the passage planning

which is Appraisal which is related to collecting the required
information for passage planning.

Appraisal of the passage plan

IMO resolution A.893(21) provides the general guidelines for

the passage planning.
 It defines the four stages that need to be considered for
planning the passage. These stages are

 Appraisal

 Planning

 Executive

 Monitoring

The first step for planning passage is to gather all the required
information for the voyage.

 What is or will the vessel’s draft for the voyage?

 What is the minimum depth available for the voyage?

 Any reporting requirements during the passage?

 Are there any areas along the passage that need to be

avoided?

 Are there any deep water routes that we can and cannot use?

 Any special routeing measures required?

 Once we have all this information, we can easily plan our

passage.
 But from where can we get all this information?
 Of course there are tons of resources but we must know
the flow of looking for these informations.
 That would save us a lot of time.
 Let us understand what resources we have to get all this
information.

1. Ocean Passages of the world

 When I get into my car for an unfamiliar destination, the
first thing I see is which direction I need to proceed. Left,
right or straight.
 I just want to get a brief sense of direction.
 For Oceans, this publication “Ocean passages of the
world” provides the brief sense of direction to proceed.

 There is a wealth of information in “Ocean passages of the

world”. And this is the first information that a seafarer
would need.
 The information provided in this publication is precise and
helpful.
 So what we first need to do is go to the index page and
look for the chapter that have the area (or one of the
areas) for our voyage.
 Let us say we need to plan our voyage from Singapore to
Mombasa.
 The information provided in this publication is precise and
helpful.
For the passage between Singapore and Mombasa, it is Chapter
6.
Now go to the chapter 6 and find the best section that matches
our voyage. For the voyage from Singapore to Mombasa, we
have a direct section.

If not, you may have to find an intermediate port between your

voyage to get the route from the “Ocean passages of the
world”.
As you can see this has given us a sense of direction which is
to pass through the “one and half degree channel”.

There are even diagrams for better representation of the route

to follow for different ocean voyage. Below is the one for
Singapore-> Mombasa voyage.
https://appchart.c-map.com/core/search-by-
coordinates
2. Ship’s Routeing

Next, you need to get your hands on this IMO publication

“Ship’s Routeing”.
 the objective of ships’ routeing is to “improve the safety
of navigation in converging areas and in areas where
the density of traffic is great or where freedom of
movement of shipping is inhibited by restricted sea
room, the existence of obstructions to navigation,
limited depths or unfavourable meteorological
conditions.

This publication contains these sections

 Part A: General provisions on ship’s routeing

 Part B: Traffic separation schemes and inshore traffic zones

 Part C: Deep water routes

 Part D: Areas to be avoided

 Part E: Other routeing measures

 Part F: Associated rules and recommendations on Navigation

 Part G: Mandatory Ship reporting systems, mandatory

routeing systems and mandatory no anchoring areas

 Part H: Adoption, designation and substitution of

archipelagic sea lanes

As you can see that is quite a handful of important information.

And there is no short cuts but to dig into all this information
and get the one applicable to your voyage.

So under each part we need to find if there is any information

for our route.

For example, under part B, we would get information related to

Malacca strait TSS.
Similarly under Part C (Deep water routes), we would get the
information about “Deep water routes” in Malacca strait.
And then we can see some more information on the rules to
follow in Malacca strait and mandatory reporting in Part F and
part G respectively.

The idea is to collect all the information available and use it for
planning the passage.

It is good habit to make notes of the data available for ready

reference. Like the one I made below for our voyage.
3. Paper charts or ENCs

To plan the passage we must have the required paper charts or

ENCs.

If your ENC provider has the PAYS (Pay as you sail)

options and you company has subscribed to it, you will have
the most of the ENCs for the passage planning.
The company will only need to pay when the vessel actual sails
on these ENCs.

Navtor is one of such ENC provider and I have covered ordering

process in NAVTOR in another blog.
If you have chartco, I have covered ENCs ordering process for
chartco in these blogs too
But if your company is still in ancient world where there is no
such software available, you need to do get your hands on
“Chart Catalogue”.

The best approach in this case is to first get the planning chart
or a smallest scale chart that will have both the port areas in it.

These planning charts usually should be on board.

These planning charts usually should be on board.

In this case we have BA chart 4071: Northern parts of Indian

Ocean.

In this chart, we have Mombasa, Malacca strait and one and

half degree channel too. This chart would provide the
major route for the vessel.

In the small scale sections of the chart catalogue for this area,
with these courses we can get the chart numbers that are
applicable for this route.

Admiralty digital catalogue is another useful alternative to the

paper catalogue.
Whatever way you find this information, it is good practice
to note down the charts number for the voyage in the passage
planning notes.

4. Sailing Directions (Pilot)

We have got all the information for our ocean route of the
voyage. But we still need information on the local waterways,
coastal, inshore or offshore area near to the ports or land.

Sailing directions provides this information.

For example to get this information, get the ASD Africa pilot
Volume 3
From the index of the last pages of the book, look for
Mombasa.
And you can see the sections applicable for Mombasa. No
other way than to read these sections and apply the applicable
information to the passage plan.

Again, note down the applicable information and sections from

this sailing direction.

Similarly you need to go through sailing directions applicable

for other areas of our voyage.
 The applicable sailing directions can be found from chart
catalogue or digital chart catalogue.

For the voyage from Singapore to Mombasa, the applicable

sailing direction would be

 NP 3: Africa Pilot volume 3

 NP 38: West coast of India Pilot

 NP 39: South Indian Ocean Pilot

 NP 44: Malacca Strait and west coast of Sumatera Pilot
All the applicable information need to be collected from these
sailing directions and applied to the passage plan.
For example, NP 38 would provide information about passing
through the one and half degree channel.
 5. Admiralty list of Radio Signals

Admiralty list of radio signals is all about information on

communication. It has 6 parts.
 ALRS Volume 1 (NP 281): Maritime Radio stations

 ALRS Volume 2 (NP 282): Radio Aids to Navigation, DGPS,

Legal time, Radio time signals and electronic position fixing
systems

 ALRS Volume 3 (NP 283): Maritime safety information services

 ALRS Volume 4 (NP 284): Meteorological Observation Stations

 ALRS Volume 5 (NP 285): Global Maritime Distress and Safety

System (GMDSS

 ALRS Volume 6 (NP 286): Pilot Services, Vessel Traffic and

Port Operations

The information contained in each volume is useful for the

passage.

For example ALRS Volume 3, we would get the details of the

NAVTEX, stations as well as the details of Navarea coordinator.
This along with the times for broadcasting the navarea
warnings.
ALRS Volume 4 would provide similar
information about Meteorological Observation Stations for
receiving the weather reports.

But one information that is important for the voyage planning

is the information on the reporting requirementS

ALRS Volume 6 (or digital ALRS Volume 6) would provide

this information.

If using digital ALRS volume 6, once you open it, you would see
all the areas listed on the left side along with a map in the
center.

The blue dots on the map are all the information about
reporting requirements in that area or port.
Double click on the for the port of your voyage or any area that
you are passing and it will give you the information on
reporting requirements.

For example, when we click on Singapore, it will give the

reporting information about Singapore.

Data for all the applicable reportings for the voyage need to
collected and need to be the part of the passage plan.

For our voyage apart from the port arrival reportings for
Singapore and Mombasa, the reportings for Malacca strait will
be applicable
6. Guide to port entry
We have found most of the information required for a
comprehensive passage plan.

What remains is the extensive information about the port and

the terminal vessel is calling.

“Guide to port entry” provides this information. To locate the

information about the applicable port is simple.

Just go to the country section and look for the port the vessel
is calling.

If the vessel is provided with digital port guide such as IHS port
& terminal guide“, the job becomes even simpler.

We just need to search with the port name and information

about that port will be displayed.
 7. Company SMS manuals

We have collected all the information that we need to have for

a comprehensive passage plan.

But this passage plan would be incomplete if we do not

incorporate the company’s requirements in it.

We need to go through the SMS manuals and should be aware

of all the company specific requirements.

Some of such requirements could be

 UKC policy of the company

 Minimum distance to keep from navigational dangers

 Company specific Reporting requirements for passing through

some key areas

 Reporting to Hull insurance for passing through the high risk

areas such as Gulf of Aden

 Any other reporting to the Hull insurance

8. Other publications
 Now there are many other publications and resources the
information of which may only be needed at later stages.

Some of these publications are

 Admiralty tide tables

 Admiralty list of lights

 Mariner’s handbook

These publication need to referred as and when required. For

example, for UKC calculation, vessel need to refer to the tide
tables for the height and time of tides.

Mariner’s handbook is a useful resource for general information

about explanation of many terms and resources used on board.

Conclusion

Collecting the data for use in passage planning is the most

important aspect of the passage planning.

This stage of the passage planning is called Appraisal.

Once we have all the data for the voyage, it is relatively easier
to plan a passage.

Navigator responsible for creating a comprehensive passage

plan need to be aware of all the resources available to him.