This new service was produced in conjunction with the top 20 questions used for ECDIS audit inspections and the Inspectors ECDIS Course, both designed by the company.
For £200 per hull, per year, regardless of the number of officers or annual turnover of crew, it is now possible to keep the entire bridge team up-to-date, regardless of which of the varying 38 manufacturers of ECDIS currently circulating the industry, ECDIS Ltd claimed.
ECDIS ACATS is claimed to ensure that the officers are:
1) Up to date every year with any changes to the make and model of the ECDIS on board.
2) Understand the key functions for safe navigation.
3) Prepared for PSC or an independent audit or inspection,
4) Refreshed annually in their knowledge of key menus and operational capability of the ECDIS.
5) Company compliant in ECDIS through annual assessments.
George Ward, project support for ECDIS ACATS, which is based at ECDIS Ltd’s Hampshire, UK headquarters, said; “ECDIS ACATS is an effective assurance method of assisting the maritime industry as a whole to increase their underpinning knowledge in the make and model of their ECDIS fitted on board and to keep up-to-date with the constantly evolving software from all the manufacturers worldwide.
This product also allows the shipmanager or operator to have positive control over their officers annual competency assurance with regards to ECDIS, which in turn would reduce their training safety matrix for navigating with ECDIS,” he concluded.