Circulars

Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS)

Amendments to SOLAS Regulation V/19.2.10 adopted by IMO MSC.282(86) made ECDIS mandatory to be fitted on board cargo and passenger ships.  The system aims to assist crew members in ship’s navigation and was first used on board naval vessels.  The system includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) feature to effectively locate the navigational points and is a highly reliable system for navigation.  The system may also include AIS and Radar.

For existing tankers (i.e. built before July 1, 2012) with gross tonnage greater than 3,000 and engaged in international voyages, ECDIS must be retrofitted not later than the first survey on or after July 1, 2015.

For the overall applicability of ECDIS on board cargo and passenger ships engaged in international voyages please refer to the table below.

Ship Type Gross Tonnage New Ships(Keel laying date) Existing Ships(Not New Ships)
Passenger Ships Greater than 500 July 1, 2012 Not later than the first survey* on or after July 1, 2014
Tankers Greater than 3,000 July 1, 2012 Not later than the first survey* on or after July 1, 2015
Others Greater than 50,000 July 1, 2013 Not later than the first survey* on or after July 1, 2016
  Greater than 20,000 but less than 50,000 July 1, 2013 Not later than the first survey* on or after July 1, 2017
  Greater than 10,000 but less than 20,000 July 1, 2013 Not later than the first survey* on or after July 1, 2018
  Greater than 3,000 but less than 10,000 July 1, 2014 There is no necessity for retrofitting to existing ships of gross tonnage less than 10,000
 

*The first survey means the first annual, periodical or renewal survey, whichever comes first after the date indicated.  For passenger ships, this survey is the first passenger ship safety survey.  For cargo ships (i.e. tankers and others), this survey is the first cargo ship safety or cargo ship safety equipment survey.

Functional Requirements for ECDIS

ECDIS installed as meeting the chart carriage requirements and using for navigation shall be complied with as follows: 

  • Performance standards for ECDIS: IMO Resolution MSC.232(82) 
  • Requirements of back-up arrangement: Nautical paper charts or an ECDIS provided with electronic nautical charts are complied with as a backup arrangement for ECDIS. The backup ECDIS should be complied with the IMO resolution MSC.232(82) Appendix 6.

Type approval of ECDIS 

  • Type of ECDIS shall be approved by the Administration or Organizations approved by the Administration.
  • ECDIS shall comply with the requirements of IMO performance standards.(i)ECDIS installed on or after 1 Jan. 2009 shall comply with the IMO resolution MSC. 232(82). (ii)ECDIS installed before 1 Jan. 2009 shall be complied with the A.817(19), MSC.64(67) annex 5 and MSC.86(70) annex 4, and provided IHO standard software and be able to display all information of latest ENC.(iii)IEC 61174 Test standards for ECDIS shall be applied.