Virtually being there: Human aspects of shore-based ship assistance

Abstract

Shore-based ship assistance is a topic that increasingly is attracting attention from the maritime community. Subjects such as shore-based pilotage and VTS are often discussed and there is technological and political pressure towards more extensive forms of such assistance. Perhaps less often mentioned, but not less important, is the human side of these subjects. The present paper examines two of the central concerns for the people who actually work within today's VTS centers, namely communication and trust. The study consisted of a literature review, study visits, observations and interviews.Communication and trust are found to be closely related, and one main finding is that adapting one's means of communication to the context can be a very powerful (and necessary) tool for the creation of trust. Another important result is that the ability of the shore-based operator to see the situation from the viewpoint of the crew is crucial for the creation and maintenance of trust. IntroductionDuring spring and summer 2008, a preliminary study of the possibilities and limitations of introducing shore-based pilotage in Swedish waters was conducted by Chalmers University of Technology and the Swedish Maritime Administration. The results of this study have been published in a number of reports and papers (Bruno 2008;Lützhöft et al. 2008;Bruno and Lützhöft 2009;Lützhöft and Bruno 2009).One important conclusion of the preliminary study was that communication and trust are key notions in any form of shore-based ship assistance, and a follow-up study was commissioned to look more closely at these concepts and their relevance in this domain. The follow-up study, which is the subject of this paper, also aimed at getting a better understanding of the processes by which shore-based ship assistance (e.g. VTS, shore-based pilotage) work. The present paper thus specifically adds the trust and communication perspective to the debate, and also generally adds to the understanding of the workings of shore-based ship assistance.

‘I See You on My Radar’: Displays of the Confirmatory Form in Maritime Technologically Mediated Interaction

“…This study then concurs with the findings in studies in aviation research (Sanne, ; Nevile, ; Falzon, , ) and other maritime findings (Hutchins, ; Diaz Perez, ; Grech et al ., ; Bruno and Lutzhoft, ), that spoken interaction is an eminent part of interaction in a technological setting (Hutchins, ; Nevile, ; Falzon, ).…”

“…Previous maritime studies have investigated maritime navigation and communication (Hutchins, , , ; Strevens and Johnson ; Strevens ; Weeks et al ., ; MARCOM Project, ; Bøgh Andersen, ; Pritchard and Kalogjera ; Pritchard, ; Johnson, ; Bailey et al ., ; Froholdt, , , , ; Weeks, ) and ship and land‐based radio interaction (MARCOM Project, ; Bruno and Lutzhoft, ; Froholdt, , , , ). In order to understand interaction between users in a technologically saturated setting such as the bridge of a ship, Bøgh Andersen () has investigated bridge‐communication.…”

“…Previous maritime studies have investigated maritime navigation and communication (Hutchins, 1990(Hutchins, , 1991(Hutchins, , 1995Strevens and Johnson 1983;Strevens 1984;Weeks et al, 1988;MARCOM Project, 1999;Bøgh Andersen, 2000;Pritchard and Kalogjera 2000;Pritchard, 2003;Johnson, 2002;Bailey et al, 2006;Froholdt, 2008Froholdt, , 2009Froholdt, , 2010Froholdt, , 2011bWeeks, 1992) and ship and land-based 471 C 2015 The Author. The Sociological Review C 2015 The Editorial Board of The Sociological Review radio interaction (MARCOM Project, 1999;Bruno and Lutzhoft, 2010;Froholdt, 2008Froholdt, , 2010Froholdt, , 2011aFroholdt, , 2011b. In order to understand interaction between users in a technologically saturated setting such as the bridge of a ship, Bøgh Andersen (2000) has investigated bridge-communication.…”

“…Hutchins (1995) has studied ‘readbacks’ and analysed how a speaker's utterance in bridge communication is repeated by a recipient, as what he coins an ‘echo of the utterance’ (1995: 223), and the present study will address this action as a display. Bruno and Lutzhoft (2010) have of late investigated shore-based navigational assistance between ships and their approximated LBT centres. Bruno and Lutzhoft view the use of micro details such as prosody, clarity in communication or the speed of how a message is repeated as a ‘readback’ 6 (IMO SMCP, 2001), as features of communication that can have an influence on how the concept of trust can be built.…”

Assessing a maritime service website prototype in a ship bridge simulator: navigators’ experiences and perceptions of novel e-Navigation solutions

“…Safe navigation and maneuvering of large vessels within VTS areas is an activity that requires coordination between the bridge officers of the ship, the VTS (Praetorius 2014), and often the coastal pilots (de Vries 2015). The stakeholders, who are mostly not co-located (Bruno and Lützhöft 2010), are now increasingly linked and aided by information communication technology devices (Bhardwaj 2013) (e.g., Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS), Automatic Identification System (AIS), Very High Frequency (VHF) radio, Navigational Telex (Navtex)).…”