®
Operated by the Norwegian Hydrographic Service
Order of St. Olav awarded to Asbjørn Kyrkjeeide
Asbjørn Kyrkjeeide, managing director of Electronic Chart
Centre (ECC) in Stavanger, has been appointed Knight First
Class by the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for his
contribution to Norwegian safety standards at sea.
In its evaluation the Order has placed emphasis on Mr.
Kyrkjeeide’s untiring effort and ability to develop the concept
of an electronic chart service. The Order stresses how important
this is as a means of navigation, providing timely data for all
ships and its importance for the safety at sea. The importance
of this for Norway as a seafaring nation has also been taken
into account.
Asbjørn Kyrkjeeide is 60 years old and originally from
Strandebarm in Hardanger. He now lives at Jørpeland in the
Municipality of Strand in Rogaland County. Mr. Kyrkjeeide
was educated at the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy in
Bergen. He has served on submarines and was submarine
commander for five years.
Asbjørn Kyrkjeeide joined the Norwegian Hydrographic
Service in Stavanger in 1982. He was quickly given
responsibility for major development projects. One of these
was to provide for a global service of electronic navigational
charts, which became the forerunner of the Electronic Chart
Centre (ECC), which was set up in1999.
ECC was organised as a state-owned limited company to
provide the operational service on a 24-hour basis globally
for the multinational Primar Stavanger ENC service under the
management of the Norwegian Hydrographic Service.
The Order was presented by County Governor of Rogaland,
Tora Aasland.
s a i l s a f e l y w i t h o f f i c i a l c h a r t s
o f f i c i a l i n t e r n a t i o n a l E N C s e r v i c e
-NEWSLETTER
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Solution on mandatory ECDIS moves closer at NAV 53
A clear majority in favour of mandatory ECDIS implementation
was expressed at the recent NAV 53 meeting of the sub-
committee on safety of navigation of the International Maritime
Organisation (IMO) maritime safety committee (MSC).
This sub-committee has been mandated together with NAV
54 to study and analyse the issue of mandatory ECDIS
implementation, and to make appropriate recommendations.
There was a clear majority in favour of mandatory ECDIS
implementation via the the route recommended by either the
Nordic or the Japanese proposal. The Japanese proposal calls
for less stringent requirements on tonnage limits than the
Nordic alternative.
Some interventions at the meeting also expressed concern over
such issues as ENC coverage, ECDIS training facilities and
the cost factor.
The sub-committee had received a report from Det Norske
Veritas which analysed ENC coverage today and the estimated
position in 2010. This concluded that available coverage in
coastal waters along the main traffic routes would be sufficient
by the latter year to justify ECDIS implementation.
The main purpose of mandating ECDIS is to realise its full
potential for reducing the risk of collision and grounding, as
established by the DNV report.
Owing to the lack of consensus on the issue, the chair of the
sub-committee called for further analysis and documentation to
address the concerns in a constructive manner. The conclusion
was that a clear picture of ENC coverage status should be
presented to NAV 54 in a manner which is convincing and
easy to understand.
A solution based on a compromise between the Nordic and the
Japanese proposals is likely to be adopted at NAV 54.
Ecdis
Visit Primar Stavanger at:
We will be at stand 208.
You will find us in Hall 3, at stand 357.
s a i l s a f e l y w i t h o f f i c i a l c h a r t s
Greeks on the go
The digital cartography division (DCD) of the Hellenic Navy
Hydrographic Service (HNHS) is responsible for producing
and updating official Greek ENCs as well as for operating a
marine geographical information system (GIS).
This contains and manages all geographic, hydrographic
and navigational data, and any other information, needed to
produce a wide range cartographic products, such as ENCs,
paper charts and additional military layers (AMLs).
Usage band Number of cells
%
1 Overview
1/1
100
2 General
2/2
100
3 Coastal
71/83
86
4 Approach
16/28
57
5 Harbour
31/47
66
6 Berthing
127/164
77
The DCD comprises 12 military and civilian cartographers,
GIS experts and mariners, who are all specialists in ENC
production and maintenance. It also represents the HNHS
in various fora, such as the International Hydrographic
Organisation (IHO), the worldwide electronic navigational
chart database (WEND), and the technical and advisory/
steering committees of the RENCs.
Greece launched its ENC production project in March 2001,
and 248 cells covering the HNHS’s area of cartographic
responsibility have so far been released to the market. The
HNHS belongs to both of the European regional ENC centres
(RENCs) – Primar Stavanger and IC-ENC.
The current status of Greek ENC production can be summarised
in the following table:
ENC work is based on software packages from Hydroservice
and SevenCs. Incorporation of the T-Kartor CPSNG Hydro in
the marine GIS environment is expected to help significantly
increase the production of Greek ENCs and AMLs, as well as
the production of paper charts from the S-57 database.
s a i l s a f e l y w i t h o f f i c i a l c h a r t s
The JTEWG meeting in May 2007.
Joint technical experts working group holds UK meeting
This year’s joint technical experts working group (JTEWG)
meeting between Primar Stavanger and IC-ENC was hosted by
the latter on 30 May in Taunton, UK. Primar Stavanger’s own
technical experts working group (TEWG) met the following
day.
The 36 people at the joint meeting included personnel from
software suppliers 7Cs, Hydro Service, Caris and Chart Pilot,
who were invited to discuss continued development of their
products to make ENC validation more efficient.
The hydrographic office (HO) representatives also took the
opportunity to engage in a discussion with these companies
about further software progress.
Another topic discussed was the use of the Scamin attribute in
ENCs. IC-ENC presented a more detailed paper on this issue,
which was discussed among the HOs at the meeting.
After some amendments had been made, the updated
document was forwarded to the International Hydrographic
Organisation’s transfer standard maintenance and application
development (TSMAD) working group.
The procedure for providing information about changes to
traffic separation schemes (TSSs) was also discussed between
the regional ENC centres. They will discuss whether any
further alignment in RENC methodology is necessary when
reporting on a new TSS.
A question often asked is whether ENCs should incorporate
temporary and preliminary (T&P) messages, and this was
consequently discussed at the TEWG meeting.
The handling of T&P notices in ENCs is not consistent at the
moment, and differs from one HO to another. Primar Stavanger
is accordingly planning to collect information on the way each
HO handles such notices and will add this to the README file
included on the weekly CD.
The next JTEWG meeting will be held in Stavanger during
April-May 2008.
s a i l s a f e l y w i t h o f f i c i a l c h a r t s
New Russian ENCs.
New ENCs in the Adriatic.
ENC database steadily growing
Primar Stavanger ENC coverage in September 2007.
New Russian ENCs released during the summer provide
coverage of such regions as the Laptev, East Siberian and
Chukchi Seas. Further releases also occurred in the Adriatic,
with both Croatian and Italian hydrographic offices producing
additional cells.
Roughly 7 000 ENCs are now available through the Primar
Chart Catalogue. This comprehensive coverage from a single
database makes a significant contribution to safety at sea.
The Primar Stavanger ENC service is delivered through an
international network of 50 authorised distributors, and kept
regularly updated by means of the Primar Chart Catalogue and
the Primar Online remote updating service.
www.primar.org - info@primar.org