Notes on a meeting of SONAC held via Teams on Tuesday 14th June 2023

Written by John Hasselgren

I attended this meeting at the request of Paul Bryans, Chairman of the Small Craft Group, as he was unable to do so himself.

The meeting was Chaired by Capt. Patrick Mowatt RN. It was recorded for subsequent viewing.

Apologies for absence were taken and the minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.

Jason Scholey, Senior Product Manager, then gave an update on Digital Navigation.

The main reasons for the change to digital equipment and techniques are:

1. Drivers: Environmental accountability – the need to decarbonize and use cleaner fuel.
Improved operational efficiency.

2. Solutions: Alternative fuels, although this isn’t the responsibility of UKHO.
Optimization in the use of shipping.
Autonomous Navigation.

3. Enablers: Internet connectivity.
Cyber security.
Training of seafarers and the use of simulators.

IMO has approved the use of S-100 charts on ECDIS equipment by 2026.

S-100 charts on ECDIS will be required for all new installations from 2029.

These changes are expected to be gradual and should fit with the common ten-year cycle of replacing bridge equipment. Current services will be needed for the next ten years before the advent of second generation of digital services. There is also the need to improve the availability of the existing services, with the OKHO being responsible for not only the UK but also Crown Dependencies and other waters, a total of 71 areas. Currently, only 15% of UKHO products are now on paper. Much data is still distributed on DVDs and there is a need to move to online distribution and reduce the amount of plastic used.

Sailing Directions are being digitized so that they may be read online instead of getting out a book. (I must here say that I would be most unlikely to read my Thames Estuary Pilot if I had to do so online. I much prefer the book, but I don’t need to carry the set for the world.)

Tidal services are, at present, based on tidal gauges, but are moving towards using Oceanographic modelling with the ability to build in Meteorological influences. This should improve the accuracy of tidal heights and flows. It is expected that long-term tidal data will be available using the Oceanographic method, with short-term improved data given three or four days in advance.

Data improvements on charts include greater consistency between adjacent ENCs, removing the problem of contours not joining one another. Higher contour density in critical areas will give greater information and make it easier to set a limiting depth contour rather than equipment defaulting to the next depth.  Enriched consistency on charts, with greater land detail will allow better visual referencing and position fixing. Areas where this has been tried, with success, include Oban – Fort William, Anglesea, Caernarfon and Cardigan Bays, Milford Haven and The Wash. Very high praise for this came from the Pilots in Milford Haven.

Nick Nash commented that a smaller gap between contours would be very useful in both Belfast and Dublin. The ferries often draw 8.2 metres and seem to risk crossing the 10-metre contour into shallow water, especially when being audited.

Lisa Denson gave a brief update on the sub-ECDIS situation. Basically, nothing has changed. The focus is on those customers who need a solution to be able to use digital navigation. The first step is getting international agreement on charts and equipment. She confirmed that the MCA is involved in this and that UKHO will continue to produce paper charts until at least 2030.

David Robertson from MAIB then presented some ship groundings that could be attributed to errors in digital navigation with ECDIS.

The first was Chem Alya, an 11,939 GT chemical tanker that used the Needles Channel to exit the Solent, despite a warning on the chart that this was unadvisable for vessels over 10,000 GT due to strong tidal streams and changing widths of the channel. She drifted north of the channel and grounded on the Shingles. The conclusion was that the passage plan ignored the recommendation that this channel should not have been used by this ship, and that route check alerts and off-track alarms hadn’t been dealt with.

Next, the Kaami, a small (2,715 GRT) general cargo ship that grounded in the Little Minch near the Shiant Islands. The conclusion here was that the safety contours on the ECDIS were unchanged since the crew joined the ship, the Master hadn’t used the safety check function to verify the passage plan and that ECDIS was an ineffective tool for passage monitoring because of inappropriate set-up. It was also said that the management company had not the experience nor the training to enable it to effectively audit ECDIS.

The Key Bora, 2,627 GRT chemical tanker, grounded on a rock in the approach to Kyleakin. The rock was shown on the latest ENC which had been downloaded eight days prior to the grounding but had not been checked and no one on board was aware of this latest correction. Conclusions – the ship ran aground due to the passage plan being based on inaccurate (old) survey data. The safety contour had been set at 6.48 metres but, not matching one of the five charted depth contours on the ENC in use, had defaulted to ten metres. The crew had also been relied upon to conduct navigational audits of their own processes.

Personally, I wouldn’t consider any of these as failures of digital navigation. Rather, they seem to me to be down to a lack of good navigation techniques such as updating charts, the use of back bearings, checking the ship’s position by sighting buoys, by radar and looking out of the window.

In the discussions that followed Trevor Harris from Trinity House seemed to agree with my thoughts above when he said there was a fundamental failure of navigation. He quoted two masters who didn’t know what a South Cardinal marker meant. In another case a vessel grounded alongside a port-hand lateral buoy, the course having been laid the wrong side of the buoy. Those making these mistakes were now expected to cope with ECDIS.

Ships are known to transfer Passage Plans, sometimes from one vessel to another, sometimes buying them from a commercial company. An earlier Passage Plan may be used at a later date without updating things like the draft. What to do about this? One suggestion was that, just as aircraft had to file a flight plan before they were allowed to take off, perhaps passage plans should be filed and approved before sailing. But by whom? The Port State, the MCA or the Harbour Authority? My comment on this was that when the TSS was established off Harwich the Harwich Haven Authority refused any responsibility for monitoring the area or giving advice to shipping. It would get no income unless the vessel entered Harwich, but would need to insure itself in case of any errors. That TSS is monitored by Channel Navigation Information Services in Dover. What would it cost to monitor all these passage plans, and who would pay?

At the end of the meeting, I was asked to remind RIN that it had agreed to take the lead, with the Chamber of Shipping, at the SONAC meeting on 17th October 2023 when the subject was to be Cybersecurity and Resilient Digital Navigation.

John Hasselgren.

15/06/2023

Hydrography at the Port of London Authority
- Talk by John Dillon-Leetch, Port Hydrographer

Report by John Hasselgren


This fascinating and informative talk was given as one of the Small Craft Group’s collaborations with the Royal Thames Yacht Club. 

John started by giving a brief synopsis of his journey from sailing on the West Coast of Ireland, becoming a Yachtmaster, then working in offshore oil and gas before joining the PLA and working up to his present position as Port Hydrographer.

We were then informed a that London was a Trust Port covering 400 square miles, with 95 miles of the river and its estuary and 70 wharves and terminals. By tonnage, 50 million per annum, it is the UK’s largest port. West of London the river is mainly used for recreation, the centre, in London, is mostly used as a road with 90 million passenger journeys, while east of London it is mainly commercial.

The PLA has a Vision Document for the desired future of the Thames, Thames Vision 2050. Here it sets out how it wants the Thames to develop under three main headings:

Trading Thames. Here it looks to be a competitive port, close to the UK’s largest market. Improved connectivity with road and rail infrastructure is its aim, with innovative solutions to expand the use of the river as a means of transporting varied light freight into central London instead of using the roads.

Destination Thames. The river needs to be accessible to all, with visitors drawn to it as the best way to enjoy London with its cultural attractions, and to use its leisure facilities.

Natural Thames. The aim is to have a clean river, free from sewage, waste and pollution supporting greater biodiversity and recreation. It should be valued for its clean air and wildlife as well as being a natural flood defence and carbon sink. More people should be living, working and taking relaxation around the river.

Moving onto the role of Hydrographic Services John described it Statuary Duties. These included the provision of charts for the safety of navigation, data analysis and mapping, provision of river advice and commercial survey work. Who needed these services? Mariners, Harbour Masters, Pilots, terminals and stakeholders. The challenges? Trade growth, available depths, the transition to digital charting, advances in technology and climate change.

Ship owners want their vessels to carry the maximum amount of cargo. This increases draft and minimizes under keel clearance. If insurers agree, this is usually 10% of the ship’s draft. An increase in the accuracy of surveys, leading to perhaps an extra 10cm of water could result in an extra 10,000 containers moving up the river.

Climate change could be a blessing with higher rainfall and rising sea levels leading to a reduced need to dredge. On the other hand it could also lead to extra water running down the river, with overload on the sewer system and increased pollution. Hence the need for the super sewer being built along the Thames beneath the river.

Pilots have their own electronic carry on board system, with the latest PLA charts. The PLA already has 160 pilots and is currently recruiting 16 new pilots a year to allow for natural losses and expected increase in demand. The surveying of the various channels was required to allow pilots to plan safe passage for vessels, making sure there was a safe UKC along the whole of the expected route. This would often require a vessel to reduce speed to allow the tide to rise sufficiently for the draft + 10% rule. To assist this we learnt that the tide heights from tidal gauges were broadcast regularly, together with any deviation from predicted heights. Next year it is expected that dredging will cost up to £200 million. Data recording is important as it allows comparison with earlier surveys indicating which channels are stable and which are likely to require dredging. Bringing a ship up the Thames, perhaps from the Sunk to its berth, is a bit like driving a heavy goods lorry up a motorway where the width of the road halves and bridge heights reduce by 6 metres every six hours.

To assist with the survey work the PLA has three vessels, Maplin, Thames and Galloper. The latter, Galloper, is capable of being loaded onto a trailer meaning that she can be transported to conduct surveys in other waters. Until 1991 all positions were fixed by horizontal sextant angles as GPS was considered too inaccurate for serious survey work. Since then GNSS has been used. In addition to these vessels, new technology is being introduced in the form of remotely controlled or autonomous small vessels, surface or sub-surface, and drones. The side scan sonar equipment can be moved from one to the other. As John Dillon-Leetch explained, the equipment may be fitted into a vessel costing £1.5 million or an AV costing £8 thousand. The AV, he said, needed no crew accommodation, galley nor heads. Also, they are quiet, non-polluting and the data is available in real time.

Responding to a question John explained that the PLA’s jurisdiction extended from Teddington down river and out east to the Gunfleet Sands, south to Margate Sand then west to the Isle of Sheppey.

Moving on to charts, the PLA produces its own portfolios of A2 size charts of the river and estuary which may be purchased. There are also charts at much larger scale for use in work areas or ships’ berths. These may be viewed on the PLA web site, which is well worth checking out. 

As a finale we were shown scans of some of the Estuary’s sunken vessels including the steel barque Dovenby which sank in 1914 with a cargo of guano. Also shown was the SS Richard Montgomery off Sheerness which still contains a cargo of explosives from the 2nd. World War. She is surveyed regularly to check the state of the deck; the masts are currently of concern and there are plans to cut them down before they fall. Just to prove that the PLA do sometimes work on contract to other authorities and businesses we saw a survey of the remains of the power station wall at Bradwell Power Station on the River Blackwater.

Fly/Sail Weekend – 23/24 June 2018

Piece by Sally Pawson, originally published in September/October 2018 edition of Navigation News.

The weather had held! We awoke to brilliant sunshine and low winds – just what the aviators wanted but not necessarily the yachts! Four boats arrived in Hornets, Gosport consisting of two yachts - Mischief 2 and Darwin Star, a catamaran - Spirit of Scott Bader which is part of Sailability International and a motorboat - Charlie 2. John Cairns and Paul Bryans kindly ferried the mariners to Dedalius airfield at Lee on the Solent where four planes had arrived (a Piper Warrior, a Wassmer Europa, a Jodel and another plane flown by Graham Purchase). We all met up over lunch and then once the aviators decided who was taking whom, they took to the skies with their mariner passengers. The mariners had a fantastic time flying over the Solent across to Newport on the Isle of Wight where we enjoyed a bird’s eye view of the 50th Isle of Wight Festival that was taking place all weekend. Then we headed South towards St Catherine’s Point and out to sea bearing across Freshwater Bay, banking over the Needles to take photos before heading East across Hurst Castle, Beaulieu, Calshot and Southampton Water, back to Lee on the Solent.

Once everyone had enjoyed their flying adventure, John and Paul ferried us all back to Hornets for drinks and nibbles on Charlie 2 where everyone was pleased to see Mike Highwood joining us. With 17 aviators and mariners aboard Charlie 2 it was rather cosy, all getting to know each other extremely well! When there were no more nibbles left and the wine was running dry, we headed for the Hornets restaurant for supper and more drinks - after all it had been a very hot day. Having satiated our hunger and slated our thirst, berths were found on the boats for all the aviators and once all the bags had reached the right owners we all settled down for a well-earned sleep.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny again with low winds. We were (mostly) up early bright eyed and bushy tailed despite the copious amounts of alcohol the previous evening. Obviously this lot have had plenty of practice! Mischief 2 and the Spirit of Scott Bader departed at 08:30 sailing to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in Wootton Creek on the island for brunch. Unfortunately, Darwin Star unable to join us, had to return to his local mooring. There wasn’t a great deal of wind but the aviators enjoyed their sail. Charlie 2 left at 09:20 arriving to a welcoming committee just 20 minutes later. We were made very welcome at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and ate a hearty brunch outside in the sunshine, washed down with copious amounts of tea and coffee.

We were limited on time in Wootton Creek as it dries out so we all left around 11:30 bidding fond goodbyes to those heading home. The rest returned to Hornets to disgorge the aviators so that John could take them back to the Dedalius for their flights home.

It had been an absolutely fabulous weekend and certainly the best Fly/Sail weekend I had been on. There was never a dull moment and it was like meeting old friends for the first time. I met some really lovely people who I hope will become firm friends in the future. Lucy from the Spirit of Scott Bader subsequently emailed me saying it was possibly the best weekend of her life. Praise indeed to everyone who took part.

Roll on the next Solent Fly/Sail weekend!

Would you like to join us for the next Fly/Sail? Click here for more details about Fly/Sail 2019.

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