The 48^th session of the IMO/NAV was held at the IMO Headquarters in London from 8 to 12, July 2002. As shown in the agenda, many items (such as routing of ships, ship reporting, IBS operational aspects, places of refuge, fishing vessels safety code, carriage of VDR on existing cargo ships, revision of performance standards for radar reflectors, effective voyage planning for large passenger ships, and display and carriage requirement for AIS) were identified at the session, maritime security problems being highlighted.

Therefore, as representative to ISO, Mf. Y. Iijima, ISO/TC8/SC6 Chairman (emeritus professor of Tokyo University of Merchantile Marine) attended the session, in order to allow ISO's opinions to be reflected in (1) the unification between IMO's performance standards and ISO standards for the navigation instrument related matters and (2) IMO's performance requirements for the same instruments. The summary of the session this time is reported hereinafter.

　

1 date of the session

　8 (Mon.) to 12 (Fri.) July 2002

　

2 place of the session

　IMO Headquarters, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE 17SR, UK

　

3 participants

　

4 agenda items

　

The agenda items, among these, related to ISO/TC8/SC6 are (4), (8), (9), (10) and (11), and the numbers placed within parentheses are the target year. With regard to agenda item "(18)Any other business", 12 items A to L were added regarding the items, whose consideration task had been entrusted to this NAV session, at MSC 75. The discussion on these were allotted to WGs (WG・A, WG・B and WG・C) and, in addition, it was approved that drafting groups (DG1 and DG2) for drafting task were set up.

Those items related to the WG・B, among these agenda items, were considered at the same WG, so reference is made to the WG・B's items.

In this report, the portion related to ISO/TC8/SC6 among these agenda items has been taken up.

　

5 Agenda item 2 "Decision of other IMO bodies"

The Secretariat clarified the conclusions related to the NAV brought forth from the considerations which took place at the sessions of the MSC and each sub-committee held during the period between NAV 47 and this session. The matters to discuss which had been entrusted to the NAV were considered at each WG as stated above.

　

6 Discussion at the Technical Working Group B

The WG・B, under the chairmanship of Mr. Fisher (UK), discussed the matters of the agenda items in accordance with the time table. The tasks of the agenda items at WGs were divided into high priority tasks and low priority ones, taking into account the urgency and target year of each agenda item as seen in 1.4, importance being placed especially on the former in the discussion. Among the agenda items adopted as high priority tasks, a lot of discussions took place with relevance to IBS, AIS, and maritime security.

The results of the consideration regarding these are as shown in Annex (NAV48/WP.1).

　

6.1 Operation of IBS (relevance to agenda item 4)

(1) Guidelines for IBS

(a) Consideration at the plenary session

After the general explanation on UK's proposal (NAV48/1) and Japan's proposal (NAV48/4/2), Norway and the UK expressed an opinion that, at the MSC, the NAV was likely to have been requested to re-consider the guidelines for IBS especially in matters related to operational aspects, but the contents of NAV48/4/2 are excessively wide-ranging (including technical problems, training, etc.) and including those contents duplicate to the existing relevant standards, so the contents should be streamlined. Therefore, the WG・B was to discuss accordingly.

(b) Discussion at the WG・B

Finland, Japan, CIRM (International Radio-Maritime Committee), Norway, the UK, Germany, Poland, and Denmark participated in the WG at which a sub-WG was formed which discussed the matter for drafting. At the sub-WG, it was decided that the operation part should be prepared as guidelines (7-NAV48/WP.1/Add.1, ANNEX 3), and that the technical part should be considered as "technical items related to the operation of IBS", so as to be reflected in the consideration of relevant international standards (NAV48/WP.1/Add.1. ANNEX 4).

It was also decided that the matters related to training should be separated from the operation guidelines and that the STW Sub-Committee should be requested to consider it as an item related to the operation of IBS.

(c) Consideration at the final plenary session

With no specific discussion made, it was agreed that the guidelines for operation are presented to MSC 76 as an MSC Circular and that a body to consider related international standards should be requested to examine the technical matters contained in the guidelines (NAV48/WP.1/Add.1/ANNEX 3 and ANNEX 4).

　

(2) Requirements for the display and utilization of AIS information (relevance to NAV48/4/1)

At the plenary session, presented documents were explained and it was decided that the WG・B should examine them. The WG・B discussed the documents presented by IEC and it was decided that assistance from IEC should be requested with regard to this item. It was made known (1)that, at IEC, TC80/WG13 was discussing this matter and new standards (IEC 62288) are being developed, and (2)that IEC was considering the necessity of unification of information devices e.g. "radar and AIS" or "ECDIS and AIS" (i.e. modification of navigation display marks).

Taking into account the consideration results thereon, it was agreed that necessary operation standards and performance requirements should be developed. At the final plenary session, there was no specific challenge and it was decided, therefore, that the consideration should continue further.

　

6.2 Feasibility study on the VDR installation on board existing cargo ships (relevance to agenda item 8)

(1) Consideration at the plenary session

The UK, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, CIRM, etc. explained the presented documents such as NAV48/8 (UK), NAV48/8/1 and NAV48 INF.5 (Japan), NAV48/8/2 (Germany and Sweden), NAV48/8/3 and NAV48/8/5 (Brazil) and NAV48/J/3 (CIRM).

The main points of simple VDR performance requirements are (1) the data to record (especially whether the radar data is to be recorded or not) and (2) whether the protection capsule should be of a floating or fixed type.

The UK was in strong support of recording radar data and of a simple fixed type (portable). Japan held fast to its opinion that, although Japan does not agree to the installing of VDR on existing ships, AIS can be used in lieu of radar data in general, and that the floating type capsule installed with a transponder and a light emitting device should be applied, in order to enable recovery of the capsule.

Germany and Sweden were for applying radar data with sampling rate reduced, and, the usage of a floating type capsule, while Brazil was of the opinion that, although data should include radar data, the simple type VDR should be applied to new ships but not to existing ships. ICS (International Chamber of Shipping) supported UK's opinion in general but agreed to the usage of AIS.

Many countries supported Japan, especially in the matter of the floating type capsule. In addition, countries such as Cyprus and Bahama supported Japan in general, but they were of the opinion that mandatory application of the floating type capsule to existing ships is premature, because cost analysis is necessary with regard to its application to existing cargo ships.

At this session, it was not possible to reach a conclusion because there was no information on the application results on existing ships, but the WG・B decided to consider the preparation of a progress report.

　

(2) Consideration at the WG・B

As instructed by the plenary session, the WG considered the preparation of the progress report on (1) the technical problem which exists in case a VDR is placed on board existing ships, and (2) feasibility study, analysis on cost effectiveness, etc. regarding the application to existing ships of the current performance requirements for newly built ships. However, due to the lack of time and the shortage of information, it was decided to ask the sub-committee to establish a correspondence group and consider the relevance hereafter.

　

(3) Consideration at the final plenary session

Upon request by the WG, it was agreed that a correspondence group should be established to consider the feasibility study of the simple VDR application to existing cargo ships, with Germany to act as a coordinator.