Maritime accident statistics reveal that ship collisions are among the most frequent and severe accidents. The same statistics indicate that most of them are caused by human error, mainly due to breaches of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs) and to the lack of communication between ships. There are also special situations where there is some ambiguity in the application of the COLREGs. In such occasions, and if there is no communication between the ships involved, compliance with the Rules may still end up in a collision. This article brings a new approach to Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS) and presents the earliest stages in the development of safety functions for the reduction of ship-to-ship collision risk on the high seas. These functions will help the concerned ships achieve coordinated compliance with the COLREGs. Functional safety standards are applied and, in their implementation, real, accessible electronic programmable systems (hardware and software) will be used.
Non-compliance with or misinterpretation of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs) when assessing vessel encounters, and the lack of good communication between the vessels involved in a critical situation, are primary contributing factors in collisions. Vessels engaged in an encounter should be aware that they are part of the same scenario and situation, which can become critical. Sharing and contrasting their information about the encounter would help those responsible to take manoeuvring decisions in a consistent way. There are situations whose evaluation by the respective officers in charge of the navigational watch may diverge and lead to disagreements on the actions to be taken. If there is no proper inter-ship communication, a collision may result. This paper presents a proposal for safety communication implemented in a programmable system using common equipment (automatic identification system), and applies it to a case study of one such special situation, showing how it could help to reduce the risk of collision.
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