Contingency Planning for Critical Navigational Areas
A comprehensive guide to practical contingency planning for critical navigational areas. Written from a chief engineer’s perspective, this article explains mechanisms, failure modes, operational checks, troubleshooting, escalation, and shipboard best practice for bridge teams, engineers, and officers.
Weather Routing Software Integration: Operational Best Practice and Troubleshooting
A comprehensive guide to the implementation, management, and troubleshooting of weather routing software aboard commercial vessels, focusing on operational reality, failure modes, checklists, and measurement protocols for Chief Engineers and technical officers.
Chart Corrections and Updates in Voyage Planning: Operational Practice and Engineering Oversight
An in-depth, hands-on guide to chart corrections and updates as applied to marine voyage planning. Written for cadets to chief engineers, this article details the procedures, system mechanisms, monitoring, and troubleshooting required for safe, compliant operations.
Route Optimisation Algorithms for Long Voyages: Practical Engineering, Failure Modes, and Real-World Operation
A comprehensive technical guide written from a chief engineer’s perspective. This article covers the operational principles, mechanisms, and troubleshooting of route optimisation algorithms for long voyages. Includes best practices, real-world case studies, failure analysis, and shipboard safety for everyone from cadet to chief engineer.
COLREGs – Sound Signals
Intent, warning, and why ignoring sound signals still causes collisions Contents Use the links below to jump to any section: 1. Why Sound Signals Still Matter Sound signals are often treated as obsolete on modern bridges. This is a serious error. Sound signals exist because there are times when: Sound cuts through uncertainty. When sound […]
COLREGs – Shapes
What vessels are telling you in daylight — and why daylight collisions still happen Contents Use the links below to jump to any section: 1. Why Shapes Still Matter in Modern Navigation A persistent myth on modern bridges is: “Shapes are obsolete — we have AIS and radar.” This belief has contributed directly to daylight […]
COLREGs – Lights
What vessels are telling you at night — and how misreading lights causes collisions Contents Use the links below to jump to any section: 1. Why Navigation Lights Exist Navigation lights exist to answer three operational questions at night: They are not decorative, and they are not optional. At night, lights are primary information, not […]
Bridge Team Roles
Who does what on the bridge — and why accidents happen when roles blur Contents Use the links below to jump to any section: 1. The Bridge as a Team, Not a Rank Structure The bridge is not run by hierarchy alone — it is run by clearly defined functional roles. Rank establishes authority and […]