IMS4.2.3.1 Navigation Chart Correction Procedure

1.0   PURPOSE

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that all SeaLink vessel's chart portfolios are maintained and corrected, when required.

2.0   SCOPE

This procedure details the requirements and steps for making chart corrections . It is the Master's responsibility to maintain the SeaLink vessel's chart portfolios to regulation standards.

The first step towards proficiency in navigation to watch keeping standards is understanding how to interpret a nautical chart. This fundamental knowledge will be the foundation from which all other skills of the Master can be built upon. If the chart cannot be understood, then the vessel’s position cannot be determined and dangers will not be recognised by the Master.  

Charts are ‘living’ documents. Information affecting the safety of navigation for mariners is constantly being received. Sometimes it is in the form of an individual report of a newly discovered danger, or a buoy or beacon has been moved or removed, while other times the change can be as large as an entire new survey. In all cases, the Australian Hydrographic Survey (AHS) has an obligation to publish details of new and altered information affecting the potential safety of mariners. Equally, mariners have a legal obligation to apply these updates to their charts. 

3.0   REFERENCES

• Australian Hydrographic Survey (AHS)

• Australian Maritime safety Authority (AMSA) Marine Notices

• Australian Maritime safety Authority (AMSA) Marine Order 21

• Marine Safety Queensland (MSQ) Notices to Mariners 

• Regulation 34 of Chapter V of SOLAS (Safe Navigation and Avoidance of Dangerous Situations)

• International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Resolution A.893 (21) guidance for Voyage Planning

4.0   DEFINITIONS

Company: SeaLink

Chart Correction: The nature of a waterway depicted by a chart may change, and artificial aids to navigation may be altered at short notice. 

Chart Correction Pen: A finely tipped pen that's ideal for the correction of nautical charts. It lets you adjust and correct with remarkable precision, and the chemically formulated ink doesn't bleed once it dries. Magenta is that standard colour for chart correction.

Hydrographic Office: The RAN Australian Hydrographic Service is the Commonwealth Government agency responsible for the publication and distribution of nautical charts and other information required for the safety of ships navigating in Australian waters.

Notices to Mariners: Notices to Mariners (NTM) advise mariners of important matters affecting navigational safety, including new hydrographic information, changes in channels and aids to navigation, and other important data. Over 60 countries which produce nautical charts also produce a notice to mariners.

Nautical Chart: A nautical chart represents part of the spherical earth on a plane surface. It shows water depth, the shoreline of adjacent land, prominent topographic features, aids to navigation, and other navigational information. It is a work area on which the navigator plots courses, ascertains positions, and views the relationship of the ship to the surrounding area. It assists the navigator in avoiding dangers and arriving safely at his destination. Originally hand-drawn on sheepskin, traditional nautical charts have for generations been printed on paper.

Electronic Chart: Consisting of a digital database and a display system are in use and are replacing paper charts aboard many vessels. An electronic chart is not simply a digital version of a paper chart, it introduces a new navigation methodology with capabilities and limitations very different from paper charts. The electronic chart is the legal equivalent of the paper chart if it meets certain International Maritime Organization specifications.

Chart Publication: The date in which a chart is published.

Chart Datum: A chart datum is the level of water that charted depths displayed on a nautical chart are measured from. A chart datum is generally a tidal datum, that is, a datum derived from some phase of the tide. Common chart datums are lowest astronomical tide and mean lower low water.

Compass Rose: A graduated circle printed on a map or chart from which bearings can be taken.

Latitude: The angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator, or of the equator of a celestial object, usually expressed in degrees and minutes.

Longitude:  The angular distance of a place east or west of the Greenwich meridian, or west of the standard meridian of a celestial object, usually expressed in degrees and minutes.

Chart Correction Ledger:  The official record keeping ledger for SeaLink vessel's chart corrections.

Chart 5011: Symbols and Abbreviations.

5.0   REQUIREMENTS

An email will be sent to all company vessels when a particular chart is required to be corrected. Upon receiving the email, Masters are required to take the vessel's affected charts to the company board room at the office.

The chart correction transparencies will be located in the company board room. All necessary equipment will be provided. (Parallel rule, dividers and chart correction pen and pencils).

Follow the steps below:

STEP 1   Place the transparency over the chart.

STEP 2   Line the Latitude and longitude to reference the correction site.

STEP 3   Using a pencil, press down on the transparency correction to create an indent on the chart. 

STEP 4   Remove the transparency correction and mark the chart with the correction pen.

STEP 5   Copy the symbol and abbreviation to the chart and the transparency correction.

STEP 6   Mark the bottom left hand corner of the chart with the correction date and the NTM number.

STEP 7   Complete the chart correction ledger. (This can be found on DataWeb/ Administration/Navigation Chart Correction Ledger.