Tech Talk: Time to Rethink Watchkeeping
It’s time to consider the role of “digital watchkeepers” as the become an increasingly complex tool for bridge teams.Releasing its annual report in July 2025, the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch said that significant collisions between merchant vessels show no sign of reducing. The collision between Scot Explorer and Happy Falcon, the fatal collision between Verity and Polesie and the dramatic and tragic collision of the Solong into the anchored Stena Immaculate indicate…
The Bridge and Beyond: AI, AR Revolutionize Maritime Decision Making
It’s already possible to have smart decision support on the bridge: With Furuno’s technology, live video imagery of the front view from the vessel has navigation information superimposed on it including heading, AIS data, radar target tracking, object identification, route waypoint and chart information.SEA.AI’s bridge support system can identify larger vessels not fitted with AIS up to a range of 7.5 kilometers (nearly five miles), smaller vessels up to 3 kilometers (nearly 2…
Alarm Fatigue Taskforce Established
Lloyd’s Register (LR) has released a new report indicating that alarms on ships must be rationalized to support crew welfare and avoid the safety risks associated with alarm fatigue.Consequently, LR and a selection of partners have created an industry task force to research industry approaches and assess their suitability for managing alarm systems funded by the Danish Maritime Fund.The report states that digitalization of maritime operations has led to the number of bridge alarms…
Critical Thinking Matters on the Bridge
One of the most important skills a ship’s officer should possess is their ability to recognize when something is out of place. If you don’t apply a lot of thought to what you are doing, recognizing your mistakes becomes nearly impossible. Thought is required in every step of every process performed on the bridge.With all the modern appliances we use for navigation and collision avoidance today, it is very easy to fall into the trap of being reactive to the wishes of the machines without giving much thought to the outcome of our actions.
