How To Make a Voyage Plan

A safe and executable Voyage Plan is the aim of every deck officers, to safely navigate the ship from one port to another. I have discussed from my previous post “How to make a Voyage Plan“, the basic things that you need on making your Voyage Plan. I will be discussing today at Pinoy Maritime, a more specific aim of making a Voyage Plan.

A Voyage Plan or Passage Plan is intended to make the Bridge Management Team to be well informed about the intended voyage of the vessel, including its contingency plans in the event of an emergency. The Voyage Plan is from berth to berth and must be updated in case there are any changes made from the original plan. The Captain is the overall responsible for the proper, safe approval of the plan and may delegate a responsible officer who will create it. As we all know, Voyage Planning is normally delegated to the Navigating Officer of the ship. A Voyage Plan contains the following:

Appraisal - is confirming that you’re intended Voyage Plan is safe. This can be achieved through consultation of relevant publication that will be used in your Voyage Plan. It includes:

• Information Gathering
• Maneuvering characteristics of your ship and its limitations (e.g. draft, air draft)
• The voyage charts and publications that will be used must be the latest and updated
• Voyage charts to be used must be the largest scale available
• The use of tide tables, tide atlases, and current tables
• Traffic routing schemes and reporting system must be included and be followed diligently
• Weather information must be considered
• Port guides and procedures is also included

Planning - In the planning stage, the actual voyage plan is executed. The charts must be neatly and well prepared giving due regard to safety and contingencies in the event of an emergency. It includes:

• Plotting the courses in the chart (True Course)
• Safe passing distance off land, dangerous areas, giving due regard to safe speed
• Alteration point or wheel over position
• Methods of fixing position and the position frequency
• Parallel index line must be marked in the chart
• Contingency plans, contingency anchorage, etc., as necessary

Execution - is the actual implementation of the planned voyage of the ship as per “voyage plan”. It involves:

• The accurate prediction of high and low tides, their flows, including the time
• Weather or Meteorological information must be obtained
• Calculation of ETA
• The traffic density at certain locations of the Voyage Plan should be considered.

Monitoring - in this stage the vessels progress is constantly checked and if there are any necessary changes to the planned route, it must be changed prior to arrival at port and be documented regarding the reason for the change of route. The Bridge Management Team must be well informed about it. It also includes:

• Latest weather or meteorological information
• Cross checking of fixing positions and methods
• Regular checking of navigational equipments during your four hour watch.
• ETA update
• Mandatory reporting procedures must be followed diligently
• Information given by AIS must be confirmed to be correct and updated.

All of this are to be included in your Voyage plan form and to be signed by the Bridge Management Team.

In this fast growing maritime industry, different types of inspectors would normally ask a lot on how you make a voyage plan. I’ve been onboard tanker ships and believe me; inspectors ask a lot about the charts, publications, and the voyage plan. What should you do?

• First of all you should know what tools you will need before you start making a voyage plan.

• You must know your destination port in order to pre-plan your route.

• You must ask the captain regarding distance-off coasts, additional instructions and information from the charterers and agent of the destination port, restrictions during the voyage with regards to your draft and air draft, tides and currents of the destination port, reporting procedures during the passage or voyage, and so-on. I will elaborate it later as we start discussing about the checklist and the plotting.

• After gathering all of that information, you will start planning your course, identify your waypoints, and start calculating your courses and distances.

• If you’re not crossing any ocean, you can simply use “Mercator sailing”.

• If you’re crossing an ocean, you can use “Great Circle Sailing or Composite Sailing”, but that is under the approval of your Captain.

• Remember that all your actions is an extension of the Captains authority, but in such cases that you have doubt that it will involve or may jeopardize the safety of the ship, it is better to consult or ask the Captain about it. After all, he is the over-all in-charge of the vessel.

What you will need

You will need books to guide you through this instruction to be able to clearly visualize what I’m trying to say. These books are available onboard the ship’s library, located on the Navigation Bridge. As officers and aspiring officers I encourage you to read a lot, and know what you read, and start asking questions. That is how you will learn it onboard the ship. The books are as follows:

• Bridge Team Management 2nd Edition (by: Capt. AJ Smith)

• Bridge Procedures and Guide 4th Edition (International Chamber of Shipping)

• Guides to Port Entry

• Nautical Publications

• Charts and Chart Catalogue

• Notice to Mariners

• Navarea navigational warnings

• Weather routing

Start making your Voyage Plan

I hope I didn’t miss anything but it is better to check your company’s checklist regarding “Passage Plan Appraisal” to be sure. If you cannot find it, you can simply find a useful checklist on the book “Bridge Procedures Guide”. Always look for the latest edition that you have onboard. Now that you have the tools and information that you need, you can start making your voyage plan.

• First, list down the charts that you will need during the passage. This will include large scale charts, which you will use during coastal navigation; and small scale charts, which you will use during ocean navigation.

• With the list that you’ve made, start arranging the charts according to the consecutive order that you have listed.

• Always have a general or index chart, which you will use as reference, especially when you’re handling a lot of charts. As beginners you would most likely get lost in plotting. You must have an overview where you are plotting your courses.

• Remember that the distance to go that you will give to your Captain will be from pilot to pilot station. That means from pilot station departure port to pilot station arrival port. The Pilotage waypoint is not included in your sea passage calculation of distance run. You will have a different calculation for that.

• You must know how much will be the remaining distance from pilot station to berth.

• When you already have your list of waypoints, start calculating your courses and distances. There are a lot of computer software that you can use to calculate course and distance. Don’t torture yourself calculating them manually.

• When you are already sure and satisfied with the results, you can tell the captain the distance to go to the next port.

Plotting your courses

When plotting your courses, always put in mind your maximum draft, air draft, maneuverability of your ship, etc.

• You must know your ship’s limitation.

• Apply parallel indexing, position frequency, course alteration or wheel over position, bearing and distance off from a landmark, bouyage system, reporting positions and reporting systems, leading lines, and other means of position fixing other than GPS and ARPA.

• All of this is listed down in the book “Bridge Team Management”.

Preparing the Chart is just one part of the voyage plan, You must also prepare the Voyage Planning report which will be signed by you as the navigating officer and co-signed by the Master, Chief Officer and the Third officer, to indicate that they concur to the voyage plan that you have prepared and have checked that it is safe to navigate the ship as per voyage plan.

Your first voyage plan will most likely consume a lot of your time. Don’t be discouraged! As you go along and as you do it every time, you will get used to it and you will find a system or a way to make it easier. Constant upgrading of your knowledge will be your key to success and awareness to our constantly evolving and improving Maritime Industry