From Paper To Screen: Voyage Towards Real-Time In Maritime Navigation - Singapore's Hydrographic Services

By Wee Beng Geok, Chung Chee Kit & Yang Lishan

Abstract

To Captain Chua and other senior officers at Singapore's national hydrographic services at the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS), the culmination of developments in computer and navigational instrument technologies, represented a major technological innovation that was poised to change the nature of maritime navigation in the 21st century. Particularly for coastal and congested waters such as those surrounding the island state of Singapore, using ECDIS meant safer navigation even under bad weather conditions. Under the international Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention, ECDIS was a complete replacement for paper charts when operated using official Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) that complied with international standards.

In 1996, the Hydrographic Department of Singapore commenced the production of the official ENC of Singapore's port waters and its approaches and two years later, in March 1998, the first official Singapore ENC was ready for commercial use. By 2000, with the ENC of Singapore's waters and its approaches available for sale, the Department embarked on the next stage, which was to promote the use of ENCs. For this to happen, vessels would have to be equipped with ECDIS. However, using ECDIS meant that navigators had to migrate from using paper charts to electronic charts. ECDIS advocates faced a number of challenges. Firstly, ship-owners and operators had to be persuaded to invest in a new and expensive equipment, when, for over 200 years, vessels had relied on paper charts. Secondly, worldwide official electronic chart coverage had to be improved, for which littoral nations around the world's major sea lanes would have to invest public funds to undertake new surveys of their seas and coastlines, in order to produce ENCs that would comply with international standards.

This case was commissioned by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
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Issues: Implementation of Digital Technology, Managing Technology Change, Social Context of Technology Change, Stakeholders' Analysis

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