Ocean Passages Contents

Diagram 1

Ocean Passages of the World

The blue dots on the map are all the information about reporting
requirements in that area or port.
Article Passage Planning

You know what according to me is the biggest issue right now in

maritime industry?

Information that is too much to handle.

Yes, you heard it right.

There is so much information and so many resources available that it

can get even a sane navigator confused.

But that is not the real issue. The real issue is that there isn’t enough
guidance on using these resources and information.

Let us come to passage planning.

The issues are similar.

 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.

In this article, 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
From Marine Insight

Understanding the Principles of Passage

Planning
By Shilavadra Bhattacharjee | In: Marine Navigation | Last Updated on October 25, 2017

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Shipping cargo from one port to another involves coordinated working of several operations of both
land and ship staff. One of the most integral parts of a shipping operations is the cargo or voyage
planning, which is mainly undertaken by a navigational officer of a ship.

A passage plan is a comprehensive, berth to berth guide, developed and used by a vessel’s bridge
team to determine the most favourable route, to identify potential problems or hazards along the
route, and to adopt Bridge Management Practices to ensure the vessel’s safe passage. SOLAS
Chapter 5, Annexes 24 & 25 titled “Voyage Planning” and “Guidelines for voyage planning”
respectively, give specific regulatory information with regard to the passage plan.

Passage planning includes a complete description of the ship’s passage which is prepared by an
experienced deck officer of the ship. This is done to ensure that the ship sticks to the required
routes for reaching the port of destination.
 Image Credits: Nachiketh Bhattathiri
While making a passage plan, the officer must keep in mind that the ship must reach the
destination safe by abiding to both local and international rules and regulations.

In this article, we will discuss the basic and essential stages of ship’s passage planning.

Ship Passage Planning – Essential Steps

A ship’s passage planning involves 4 major steps/stages. They are as follows:

1. Appraisal

2. Planning

3. Execution

4. Monitoring

Each stage in the passage planning has its own importance and it is extremely important to carry
out each one of them with utmost care and up-to-date seamanship to ensure a safe sail.

In the start, a rough estimate is made of the whole sailing process. Once the rough plan is ready, it
is further tweaked and modified/refined considering various details obtained from charts, pilot
book, weather routing etc. These processes are carried out throughout the appraisal and planning
stages.
In the next two stages i.e., execution and monitoring, the plan is used as a guideline, and the
sailing is executed taking into consideration various factors, both observed and predicted.

Each aspect of passage planning has been explained in detail below:

Appraisal
In this stage, the master of the ship discusses with the chief navigating officer (usually the Second
Mate), as to how he intends to sail to the destination port. (In some cases it may be required for
the master to plan the passage). This is the process of gathering all information relevant to
the proposed passage, including ascertaining risks and assessing its critical areas. This
involves information extracted from publications as well as those within the chart. The
appraisal will include details from:

 Chart Catalogue
 Charts
 Ocean Passages of The World
 Routeing Charts
 Admiralty Sailing Directions
 Admiralty List of Lights and Fog Signals
 Admiralty List of Radio Signals
 Tide Tables
 Tidal Stream Atlas
 Notices to Mariners
 Admiralty Distance Tables
 Ships Routeing
 Navigational Warnings
 Mariner’s Handbook
 Load Line Chart
 Draft of Ship
 Owners and other sources
 Personal Experience

Taking into consideration master’s guidelines, company’s guidelines, ship’s cargo, marine
environment, and all other factors that may affect the ship, the navigating officer draws
upon a general track, which the ship shall follow.

For the ease of planning, this plan is first laid out on a small scale chart, which is later
transferred to larger scale charts, and then minor modifications are made as and when
deemed necessary.

Planning
Having made a full appraisal using all information at hand pertaining to the passage, the OOW,
under the authority of the Master is to prepare a detailed plan for the passage. In this stage, the
intended courses of the ships are actually laid out on the charts of suitable scale and all additional
information is marked. The plan is laid out from pier to pier, including the pilotage waters.

It is a good practice to mark dangerous areas such as nearby wrecks, shallow water, reefs,
small islands, emergency anchorage positions, and any other information that might aid
safe navigation.
 Image for representation purpose only.
In addition to the above-mentioned things, is it advisable to layout the rate of turn for
waypoints and laying out of PI ranges for suitable objects, if any.

Reporting areas should also be clearly marked on the charts. Elements of the Planning phase
include:

 No-Go areas
 Margins of safety
 Charted Tracks
 Course alterations and wheel over points
 Parallel Indexing
 Aborts and Contingencies
 Clearing line and bearings
 Leading lines
 Tides and current
 Change in engine status
 Minimum UKC
 Use of Echo Sounder
 Head Mark
 Natural Transit

Aborts: When approaching constrained waters, the vessel might be in a position beyond
which there is no possible action but to proceed. For example, the vessel enters an area so
narrow that there is no room to return. It is for this purpose that a position is drawn on the
chart showing the last point wherein the passage can be aborted.

Contingencies: The bridge team must always be aware that the events might not go as
planned and that emergency action might be required. Contingency plans account for such
situations, clearly shown on the chart so that the OOW can take swift action in such a jam.
Contingency planning will include alternative routes, safe anchorages, waiting areas,
emergency berths.

Execution
In this stage, the navigating officers execute the plan that has been prepared. After
departure, the speed is adjusted based on the ETA and the expected weather and oceanographic
conditions. The speed should be adjusted such that the ship is not either too early or late at its port
of destination. The Master should find out how long his intended voyage is, accounting for water
and fuel available. Also to be taken into account are any expected weather changes along the
way. In case and ECDIS is being used, appropriate limits must be set with regard to the safety
settings.

Monitoring
Monitoring is that aspect which takes into account checking of the position of the vessel,
such that it remains within the safe distance from any danger areas. Parallel Indexing can be
used to maintain safe distance alongside any hazards to navigation. A safe and successful voyage
can only be achieved by close and continuous monitoring of the ship’s progress along the pre-
planned tracks. Situations may arise wherein the navigating officer might feel it prudent to deviate
from the plan. In such case, he shall inform the master and take any action that he may deem
necessary for the safety of the ship and its crew. This stage is a very important stage wherein all
the deck officers contribute their part to execute the plan. This calls for personal judgement, good
seamanship and experience.

.
 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.

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.

2. Ship’s Routeing

Next, you need to get your hands on this IMO publication “Ship’s
Routeing”.
As per IMO,
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.
 A step by step guide to ordering and correcting charts on ECDIS
 How to Install ENCs on Furuno ECDIS- Step by Step Guide
So the first thing you need to do is to make sure that you have all the
ENCs required for the voyage.

To get the information on the required paper charts for the voyage, the
procedure is not too different from ordering.

Softwares like Chartco will automatically provide this information

From menu, just go to “Routes and passage” option and enter the from
and to ports.

This will give the information on the required charts and also the charts
that are no in your folio.
But if your company is still in anciet 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.

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.

Not only that but he/She also need to aware of what information is
contained in these resources and how to use these.