Making ice navigation safer

摘要

Navigating through icy waters is a dangerous and risky business as the recent report of the Liberian registry into the loss of the Arctic cruise vessel Explorer highlights. Although much of the report concerns itself with the problems of passenger evacuation arrangements, the root cause of the incident seems to have been lack of information about the type and extent of the ice the vessel was sailing into, coupled with the lack of experience in ice conditions of the master and navigators on the ship. Even with experienced crew on board problems are not uncommon, because ice conditions change very quickly and too often vessels are forced to use out-of-date reports of ice conditions that do not reflect the cur rent situation. As a result, navigating in ice can also be costly, as ships may consume expensive fuel in unnecessary steaming to avoid ice floes and icebergs.