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1 INTRODUCTION
Watchkeeping officers are evaluated according to
exams by state authorities and company evaluation
procedures during recruitment, promotion and being
certificated. However, these theoretical exams and
procedures don’t cover evaluation in terms of
practical application. The evaluation bases such as
reactions to compelling navigation circumstances of
watchkeeping, the way they show their navigation
skills and experiences at bridge could just be seen
with the simulation which is real-like and has
different difficulty levels. In this regard, to perform
evaluation phase more efficiently, it has been
surmised that using bridge simulator would be an
effective method.
By compiling comprehensively from international
conventions, guidebooks and company ISMs
(International Safety Management), requirements for
officers and procedures during navigation in different
circumstances should be well considered. At this
point, competences that STCW (Standards of Training
and Certification of Watchkeepers) asks to officers
and which competences could be evaluated with
education based on simulator are stated in this study.
In addition, watchkeeping principles, how to
maintain a proper look-out, the principles of
performing navigation watch are stated. Moreover,
information about rules that are obligatory to obey by
COLREG (Convention on the International
Regulations for Preventing the Collisions at Sea) and
two important subjects in BPG (Bridge Procedure
Guide), situational awareness and risk of collision, are
detailed.
In the light of this information, the study aims to
create a bridge simulator application that could be
Development of Evaluation Procedures for
Watchkeeping Officers Using Bridge Simulator
M.S. Solmaz, B. Özsever, A. Güllü & C. Meşe
Piri Reis University, Istanbul
, Turkey
ABSTRACT: A comprehensive assessment of watchkeeping officers should be considered as a preventive
measure in terms of safety of navigation. Watchkeeping officers are assigned after passing exams of state
authorities and various evaluation procedures of companies. However, they are not subjected to comprehensive
evaluations with practical implementations. Therefore, this study aims to develop effective use of simulators in
terms of comprehensive evaluation of watchkeeping officers. In this study, simulation was designed with Goal-
Directed Task Analysis (GDTA) technique to indicate important points on the situations watchkeeping officers
face in navigation. 3 parameters were determined for difficulty adjustment; visibility, traffic density,
geography. At the last phase of this study, performance evaluation method was prepared for performance
evaluation of watchkeeping officer and scenario was evaluated for comprehensiveness by oceangoing masters.
Hereby, the developed performance evaluation method for navigation can be used to generate more reliable
method to evaluate the officers’ competence of technical skills.
http://www.transnav.eu
the
International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 14
Number 3
September 2020
DOI:
10.12716/1001.14.03.07
566
used for evaluating the watchkeeping officers
effectively and comprehensively. It was planned that
writing a scenario consists of four steps and difficulty
levels increase at each step, then these scenarios were
rendered as playable in simulator.
In the study, firstly the following questions were
answered:
What are the requirements that are asked to
watchkeeping officers by international
conventions, guidebooks and companies for safe
navigation?
What should be considered to write a scenario that
could supply best efficiency?
What are the required parameters for evaluating
watchkeeping officers most effectively in
simulator?
1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS AND RECENT
STUDIES
1.1 General requirements for watchkeeping officers
With STCW convention many rules came into force
about standards of competence. These competences
can be demonstrated with four different methods and
one of these methods is simulator training. Also this
convention provided watchkeeping principles in
general as well as explanation of watchkeeping under
different conditions and in different areas. How to
maintain a look-out and how to perform the
navigational watch are also its significant topics about
watchkeeping issue. All these topics under STCW
serve to improvement of watchkeeping skills and are
guide for watchkeeping officers.
For safety of navigation all vessels must comply
with rules of COLREG. Especially on high traffic
density areas COLREG plays an important role in
collision avoidance. A safe watchkeeping depends on
following the rules of COLREG. Therefore
watchkeeping officers must know, understand and
apply the rules.
Apart from STCW and COLREG, other significant
informations are gathered from Bridge Procedures
Guide and ISM system. Situational awareness and
risk of collision are stated in this study according to
BPG. On the other hand the requirements for
watchkeeping under restricted visibility and during
coastal navigation as well as CPA (Closest Point of
Approach) /TCPA (Time to Closest Point of
Approach) limits are investigated.
1.1.1 STCW
An officer in charge shall be required to plan and
conduct a passage and determine position as a
competence. Officer must have the ability to
determine the ship’s position by use of landmarks,
aids to navigation including lighthouses, beacons and
buoys, dead reckoning, taking into account winds,
tides, currents and estimated speed. He/she must also
have the ability to perform those by use of electronic
aids. STCW also requires competence for manoeuvre.
Depending on this competence officers must have the
knowledge of the effects of deadweight, draught,
trim, speed and under-keel clearance on turning
circles and stopping distances and the effects of wind
and current on ship handling. For any man over
board situation all officers shall know the manoeuvres
and procedures for the rescue of person overboard.
Also squat, shallow-water and similar effects must be
known as well as proper procedures for anchoring
and mooring (STCW, 2011). All abilities mentioned
above, can be demonstrated in bridge simulator.
1.1.2 COLREG
The following rules of COLREG can be evaluated
in simulator. Rule 5 (Look-out) which is laid emphasis
on STCW and BPG, Rule 6 (Safe speed), Rule 7 (Risk
of collision). A watchkeeping officer should be aware
of the collision risk according to the related conditions
under the Rule 7 (Deseck, 1983). Rule 8 (Action to
avoid collision), Rule 9 (Narrow channels), Rule 10
(Traffic separation schemes), Rule 13 (Overtaking),
Rule 14 (Head-on situation), Rule 15 (Crossing
situation), Rule 16 (Action by give-way vessel), Rule
18 (Responsibilities between vessels), Rule 19
(Conduct of vessel in restricted visibility) and light,
shape and sound signals can be also evaluated in
bridge simulator.
1.1.3 Bridge Procedure Guide
Bridge Procedures Guide of International
Chamber of Shipping is a well-known guide book for
safe bridge procedures. It is generally used by
Masters, watchkeeping officers, companies and
training institutions. BPG emphasises the importance
of situational awareness of watchkeeping officers for
safe conduct of vessels. BPG also gives suggestions
about risk of collision. These suggestions must be
taken into account to avoid any risk of collision
situation.
According to BPG, a qualified watchkeeping
officers should develop and maintain situational
awareness of the area around the ship, the ship’s
activities and the possible impact of external
influences on the safety of the ship. And this
awareness must include following issues (ICS, 1998).
A clear understanding of the passage plan;
An effectively managed Bridge Team;
A proper and continuous look-out by all available
means;
Familiarity with and understanding of bridge
equipment and the information available from
radar, AIS, ARPA and ECDIS;
Using look-outs, ECDIS, radar and visual
monitoring techniques to confirm the navigation
safety of the ship;
Using look-outs, radar and ARPA to monitor
traffic; and
Cross-checking information from different sources.
1.1.4 Company ISM
ISM systems of shipping companies have
directives on different navigation conditions like
restricted visibility, coastal navigation for
watchkeeping officers. These include efficient radar
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practices, position fix methods, monitoring of traffic
etc. Some company ISM can also define the minimum
CPA and TCPA; “if the circumstances permit, the CPA
should be at least 1.0 nm and the TCPA should be at least
15.0 minutes, if not; the turning circles of the vessel should
be taken into account to define the minimum CPA/TCPA.
Minimum CPA should not be set at radars less than the
diameter of the ship specific turning circle from to 180º
and minimum TCPA should not be set less than the time
which vessel completes its turn to a contrary heading with
maximum rudder angle. If the vessel navigating at Pilotage
waters, canals or straits CPA and TCPA values should be
set as safe as possible.”
1.2 Recent studies
In earlier studies, Cook et al. (1981) performed a
simulator study to assess cognitive performances of
marine officers. They used the criteria which are mean
track, cross track variability (XTE), mean speed and
rpm, mean frequency of engine, rudder and course
orders, mean CPA to each vessel and lowest CPA to
each vessel for performance measurement.
In other studies, the complicated scenarios those
difficulty levels vary from easy to difficult, were used
for performance measurement. Robert et al. (2003)
constituted 6 scenarios including routine or
emergency collision threat, alterable or fixed target
behaviour and traffic density. They took the
variabilities of collision risk, deviation from track,
course changes, rule following, target acquisition, test
manoeuvre, bearings taken for ship control measures.
Grabowski and Sanborn (2003) determined better
performance parameters of operators as smaller XTE,
fewer manoeuvring order command, fewer
communication and sufficient CPA in three levels of
navigation scenario. While lower level of scenario
contains clear visibility and low traffic, medium level
has high traffic and equipment failure and high level
of scenario contains tidal currents, speed restrictions,
restricted waterway, traffic congestion, bad weather
and heavy traffic. Similarly, Gould et al. (2009)
developed the difficulty levels of the scenarios for
performance evaluation using geography, visibility
and traffic density variables.
Kim et al. (2010) constituted the scoring index
including collision avoidance ability, decision making
time and degree of deviation based on only COLREG
rules. Maurier et al. (2011) in the same way as in
previous studies, have performed performance
measurement in routine and unplanned events by
making the traffic multilevel. Kircher and Lutzhoft
(2011) used criteria such as position taking, rule
following (COLREG), and detection range of targets,
keeping a safe CPA, communication and attention
variabilities for performance evaluation with the
similarity of previous studies.
2 METHOD
2.1 Goal-Directed Task Analysis (GDTA) for scenario
design
In the performance evaluation, the GDTA method
which is based on the Situation Awareness (SA)
model of Endsley (1993) (Figure 1) was used for the
outputs requested from the operators. According to
model, situation awareness is the perception of the
elements in the environment within a volume of time
and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the
projection of their status in the near future (Endsley,
1993).
Figure 1. Goal-Directed Task Analysis model
(Endsley,1993).
The outputs requested from the operators has
integrated to GDTA in maritime domain as in Figure
2. These are collected and harmonized from previous
studies.
Figure 2. Integration of GDTA to safe navigation
parameters.
While ‘Safe Navigation’ is main goal of the task,
‘Collision avoidance’, ‘Identify and communicate
navigation landmarks’, ‘Determine position’ and
‘Identify hazards’ are sub-goals of the task. The items
1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 are respectively perception,
comprehension and projection process items of SA
model. Scoring index of performance will include the
items such as 1.2.1, 1.2.2 etc.
Figure 3 presents the integration of GDTA to better
performance parameters in similar with the
integration of GDTA to safe navigation parameters.