Lessons learned after passenger ship hits uncharted rock

L'Austral from Ponant Cie

From Safety4Sea

In January 2017, passengers of the cruise ship L’Austral had spent the morning in small boats observing shoreline wildlife on the Snares Islands south of New Zealand.
While the master focused on recovering the boats, the ship inadvertently entered the 300-metre unauthorised zone, which the ship was not permitted to enter and struck an uncharted rock.
The hull was pierced and an empty void space was flooded.

The NZ Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) issued an investigation report

The rock with which L’Austral made contact was uncharted,
having not been detected during a hydrographic survey of the islands in 1999.

The incident

The French-registered passenger vessel 'L’Austral' arrived off the Snares Islands early on the morning of 9 January 2017.
The passengers spent the morning making shoreline excursions in rigid-hulled inflatable boats, observing the wildlife.
That afternoon the weather became unsuitable for small-boat excursions, so L’Austral rendezvoused with the boats in the sheltered water to the south of the islands to take them back on board.

 GPS position of L’Austral, ship delineation to scale 

While the master was focused on manoeuvring the ship to facilitate the safe recovery of the rigid-hulled inflatable boats, the ship drifted into a 300-metre unauthorized zone, where it contacted an uncharted rock.

Linz NZ 2411 updated raster chart (last ed. February 2018) -see Obstn Rep (2017) addition-
visualization in the GeoGarage platform.
The area where L’Austral struck the submerged rock was surveyed in 1999

to a ±50 m positional accuracy and a ±1.6 m depth accuracy.

Within these parameters it was possible that a rock pinnacle would not have been captured. 

The information captured during this survey was used to produce the paper chart NZ 2411.


A notice to mariners has been published by Land Information New Zealand (Linz) alerting mariners to the existence of an obstruction off Alert Stack, until a full survey can be conducted.
The presumed location of the obstruction off Alert Stack has been added to all paper and electronic charts. 

By the way, Linz has also edited a new ENC after the accident
(NZ 424111 New Zealand - Snares Islands / Tini Heke 25/09/2017 1/22,000)
- Linz had not created any ENC for the area of the Snares Islands at the time of the accident -

NZ424111 viewed in Olex seafloor mapping ECS which nowadays equips the ship (2018)

The rock pierced the hull in an empty void tank, which flooded with water.
The damaged compartment had little effect on the ship’s stability, and the ship was able to continue to another sub-Antarctic island before returning to New Zealand for temporary repairs.
None of the 200 passengers and 156 crew were injured.

Findings

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission found that:

• The unauthorised zone was a Department of Conservation-controlled zone, where charts indicated dangers unsafe for ships the size of L’Austral.
• The uncharted rock was in an area that the Commission considers was not suitable for the safe navigation of ships the size of L’Austral.
• There are deficiencies in the way the crew worked together (bridge resource management), insufficient planning for boat recovery and inadequate monitoring of the ship’s position.

 Extract of paper chart NZ 2411, in use at the time of the accident

Note the area of overfalls, eddies and breakers depicted on the charts for the area south of Alert Stack.

Screenshot from vessel’s ECDIS after the accident.
The vessel’s primary means of navigation was the ECDIS, comprising a primary unit and a back- up planning unit.

The operator’s safety management system referred to French law requiring L’Austral to have a paper chart back-up in addition to the secondary ECDIS unit.

However, the operator had misinterpreted the legislation.

Article 221-V/19 in French law stated that back-up devices for ECDISs could be paper or electronic.

This was not a safety issue as such, as the ship had more than the minimum requirement, that being a primary and a secondary ECDIS, and a folio of paper charts.

(All three systems were up to date). 

Had this area been identified as a no-go area as the chart showed the ‘overfalls, eddies and breakers’ symbol, the ECDIS would have alarmed as the vessel manoeuvred, affording the bridge team time to take avoiding action.

Safety issues

• Voyage planning and good bridge resource management
• Unfamiliarity with operation of the ship’s electronic chart display and information system (Sperry VisionMaster FT ECDIS)
• The Department of Conservation had insufficient maritime expertise applied to assessing risks, given the potentially harsh and sensitive environment in the sub-Antarctic islands and the likelihood that shipping activity will increase in future,

Recommendations

The Commission advised:

1. That the ship’s operator improve voyage planning, bridge resource management
2. That the ship’s operator review staff training in correct use of electronic chart display and information systems
3. That DoC appoint a person to manage safe of navigation in the sub-Antarctic islands.

Photograph showing the CATZOC of the unofficial ENC loaded in L’Austral’s ECDIS.
The ECDIS on board L’Austral was loaded with an unofficial ENC for the Snares Islands,
which had been produced by C-MAP, a Norwegian company.

The C-MAP ENC was derived from published electronic raster navigational charts where the local hydrographic offices had not produced ENCs.

The C-MAP ENC that was in use at the time of the accident is shown in Figure above.

The CATZOC U symbols denote that the “the quality of the bathymetric data has yet to be assessed”.

This low-confidence marker was also used as an indicator that it had not been produced by the local national hydrographic office, in this case LINZ.

The provision of the C-MAP chart portfolio containing unofficial ENCs for loading into L’Austral’s ECDIS should have been accompanied by an alert, warning that some of the charts had not been produced by official hydrographic sources. 

The bridge team on L’Austral did not appreciate that the CATZOC of U shown on their ECDIS at the time of the accident indicated that it had been produced by C-MAP, not by LINZ. 

Lessons learned

The key lessons arising from this inquiry were:

• An electronic chart display and information system is a valuable aid to navigation.
• However, mariners need to understand fully and be familiar with all aspects of the system, otherwise relying on the electronic chart display and information system as a primary means of navigation can contribute to, rather than prevent, accidents
  Every part of a ship’s voyage must be planned, and all members of the bridge team must be fully familiar with and agree to the plan.
• This is a cornerstone of good bridge resource management
  Good bridge resource management relies on a culture where challenge is welcomed and responded to, regardless of rank, personality or nationality.

Links :

• Hydro : Improving Uncertainty Visualisation in ENCs
• Marine Insight : Proper Use Of ECDIS Safety Settings

Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18: game of drones

Links :

• GeoGarage blog : Volvo Ocean Race: The man who made history with ...

Mullet mania

 Drone footage highlights the spectacle of hunters and mullet
converging in the shallows off Singer Island.

A school of mullet dances in synchronicity off Singer Island.

From Hakai Magazine by Michael Patrick O’Neill

As the striped mullet rebounds in Florida, the fish’s fall migration sparks an increasingly spectacular frenzy of activity.

September in southeast Florida is one of the hottest, stickiest months, yet there are subtle clues the season is changing.
Mirroring the dark clouds that unleash late summer downpours along the coastline, massive schools of baitfish suddenly appear along the beaches, sparking a torrent of activity.

Each fall, migrating mullet form dense schools along the coast of Florida.
Viewed from above, a school of mullet snakes through the clear shallows of Singer Island, as a single beachgoer looks on.

Photo by Michael Patrick O’Neill

The fish—striped mullet—abandon coastal rivers, tidal creeks, bays, and estuaries all along the Florida coastline where they spend the majority of the year, responding to triggers scientists still don’t fully understand, explains ichthyologist and fisheries biologist George Burgess from the Florida Museum of Natural History.
The cues might include dropping water temperatures, or shorter days.
The enormous schools the fish form resemble oil slicks as they pulsate slowly along the coast before eventually heading offshore to spawn.

These tight schools, known as bait balls, are protein-rich, all-you-can-eat swimming buffets for finned and feathered predators.
Sharks, tarpon, jack, bluefish, and birds discover them and follow in hot pursuit, day and night.
When attacked, the banana-sized mullet launch themselves out of the water like fireworks.
The spectacle is a flashy example of a conservation success story.
Mullet, which are targeted for food and for bait and can be found in warm waters around the globe, have made a resurgence here in the past two and a half decades.
Every year, the abundance of mullet and the marine life it attracts gets more impressive; I’ve never seen anything quite like it in 25 years of wildlife photography.

Resembling an oil slick, a school of mullet over one kilometer long makes its way south past Singer Island, one of the best locations in Florida to observe the natural phenomenon.

One day during the migration, lifeguards and tourists gave me funny looks when I waded into the chocolate-colored surf with my underwater camera to photograph the chaos.
Around me, desperate baitfish leapt out of the water to evade predators and landed on the hot sand.
Those that escaped marauding birds and didn’t suffocate were thrown back into the fray by well-intentioned Samaritans.

To get to clearer water where I could safely document the activity, I had to cross a 20-meter band of murky runoff from recent storms where shark fins were carving figure eights through a boiling mass of fish.
These medium-sized sharks, all blacktips, are abundant and love to hunt in the shallows.
While they’re strictly fish eaters, they occasionally bite swimmers and surfers, especially in a feeding frenzy.
One of the cardinal rules for swimming with them is to cover yourself in black neoprene, but I had forgotten my wetsuit at home.
My long-sleeved T-shirt and loud, lime-green shorts would have to do.
My bare legs must have looked like giant drumsticks underwater as I kicked furiously toward the clear water.
Finally safe, I caught my breath and could see sharks and tarpon—giant silver game fish reaching up to two meters in length—corralling an enormous bait ball and attacking it.
It turned into an exhilarating 12-hour day that capped off a three-year personal project filming and photographing the migration.

Two blacktip sharks and a tarpon hunt a massive mullet bait ball near the beach on Singer Island, Florida.

The predators’ strategy involves trapping the baitfish in the shallows in a tight school and then striking at the formation.

In 1994, Florida voters concerned about their fish stocks opted to implement a net ban.
It prohibits the use of gill and entangling nets, and blocks the use of large seine nets within the nearshore area, which has given striped mullet and other species a chance to recover from overfishing.

Commercial fishermen complained loudly, claiming the decline in stocks was the result of environmental degradation and habitat loss, not overfishing.
For generations, those nets had sustained them.
While many faced hardship and left the trade, some adapted and switched to smaller cast nets, or turned to aquaculture.

Twenty-three years after the net ban, the mullet is back.
Burgess and spokespeople from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say the ban was not a panacea, but it did have a positive impact overall and also helped minimize by-catch of non-targeted sea life.

Mullet explode out of the surf like nature’s fireworks in an attempt to escape predators.

Now, one of the most pressing issues for those who care about the future of Florida’s fish is water quality.
To prevent flooding and preserve aging dikes, the US Army Corps of Engineers flushes billions of liters of fetid, contaminated agricultural runoff from Lake Okeechobee into estuaries on both coasts nonstop for months during the rainy season.
Images of putrid water and algae covering once-pristine estuaries—home to various types of mullet and many endangered species like manatees, sea turtles, and sawfish—have become commonplace on the local evening news, as have angry citizens protesting and politicians promising change that never comes.

By late fall, Florida’s schooling mullet eventually set course for the open ocean.
Prolific spawners, they release millions of fertilized eggs into powerful currents like the Gulf Stream, and the little ones that survive eventually settle in the same neighborhoods as their parents to repeat the life cycle.

A school of mullet swims in a tight, synchronized formation as it is pursued by blacktip sharks and tarpon.

Mullet loiter near the surface in Palm Beach Shores, Florida, during the fall migration.

Brown pelicans chase after a school of mullet while predatory fish, most likely jack and tarpon, attack the baitfish from below, making them launch into the air.

An osprey carries a mullet back to its nest after a successful hunt.

With an incredible abundance of prey, osprey and other coastal birds gorge themselves during the migration, making multiple trips from their nests to the ocean to catch dinner.

A stand-up paddleboarder works his way over a carpet of mullet, squeezed together for protection from the numerous blacktip sharks nearby.

While fishermen are no longer allowed to catch mullet with large gill nets, they use small cast nets effectively.

They follow the schools in small boats and throw their nets with pinpoint accuracy to catch hundreds of thousands of kilograms of baitfish every year.

A surfer hurriedly paddles for shore as predatory fish attack a school of mullet right behind him.

The chances of an accidental shark bite increase during the mullet migration because of the abundance of excited sharks very close to the beach.

How blockchain will impact on navigation

Distributed ledger technology involve the sharing of ledgers

between different people and organisations.

(Source: The Cabinet Office's Open Innovation Team, UK)

From Hydro by Gert Büttgenbach

Blockchain technology can potentially change the process of compiling sea charts.
Since not all of us are acquainted with terms like ‘blockchain’ and ‘distributed ledger technology’ (DLT), this article first explores the inner workings of this technology by giving an example and then discusses foreseeable implications of blockchain and the sea chart.

You can proceed to the next subtitle without missing the point if you already know about DLT.
The captain’s logbook is a legal document – it is not to be tampered with.
Although it is hard to hide, a forger can potentially modify it.
The simplest way is to remove a page or two which will not go unnoticed but information will be lost forever.
Should there be even one copy of the logbook to prevent inconsistencies, and if the records were always identical, and done at exactly the same time, a forgery would be impossible.

However, all copies would still be held in one and only one location, i.e. on board of the ship whose name the logbook carries.
If the ship sinks and no crew member can save a copy of the logbook the information within is lost forever.
Another case is when the logbook is locked away to withhold information from the public.
This centuries old problem can be now solved by a combination of state of the art technologies – computing, digital communication and the ‘blockchain’.

DLT Demonstrated – a Familiar Example

A ‘blockchain’ is nothing else than a public ledger (a logbook openly accessible to anyone) that exists in multiple copies spread over the internet, and of which each copy has identical content.
In addition, the records are no longer done with a pen but digitally.

Nowadays, a vessel equipped with a computational device and access to the internet by, for example, satellite can send encrypted logbook entries to servers worldwide where a copy of the logbook will be held and each entry will be verifiable by the captain’s digital signature.

To ensure that no information goes missing the logbook servers are in constant communication with each other to synchronise the content of their logbook copies.
The servers close a page in the ship’s logbook (the equivalent of a ‘block’) if a majority of them agree that they hold identical copies.
Diverging copies are ignored.
An encrypted checksum of the verified ‘block’ page is computed, so that later modifications can be detected.
Next, a link to the following page is added as the ‘chain’ of ‘blocks’ grows.

The ship’s logbook has been now turned into a volume of indestructible and non-modifiable copies held in a blockchain by means of DLT (see figure above); nobody can tamper with its contents, and only a global disaster would destroy all of its copies.

The logbook example demonstrates the potential of the DLT technology.
In fact, DLT is already applied in container handling and it will revolutionise shipping in general.
In navigation, however, it is less obvious why and how to employ the blockchain.

The Blockchain and the Sea Chart – Foreseeable Implications

Sometimes, mother nature has to open our eyes for us to see what is needed.
As two hurricanes in a row devastated the Caribbean Sea in the autumn of 2017, it became clear that the profession of hydrography is at a crossroads.

Until now, it was not easy to assess the reliability of a chart, one had to rely on the word of the Hydrographic Offices (the reliability diagrams for example) or of a chartmaker in general.
But the situation is about to change.
Blockchain has appeared.

How Blockchain works.

 

In essence a public ledger, or public track record, the blockchain records every action (or ‘transaction’), and everyone who has access to the internet can verify it (see figure above.
The Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), as the blockchain construct is often called, will change the way of operation of industries as well as the organisation of whole countries.
The HOs of the world will have to accept this technology too.
The users will require every single operation on data in chart production to be documented.
Looking further into the future, ships will soon be fully automatic, self-navigating and the artificial intelligence that controls them will rely on the full documentation of charts.

The use of DLT when compiling a chart will lay open the originator of the survey data which went into the chart, its time stamp, the identity of the chart compiler, and the means of the generalisation used.
Mariners will be able to check the reliability and usability of any chart, whether produced by the HOs or by private entities, and chose one that is most accurate and appropriate for their needs.
Furthermore, it is to be expected that independent, private chartmakers will adopt this technology much faster than the HOs.
This will create a completely new situation by making commercial charts certifiable and classifiable.
An independent and neutral network of servers (or ‘nodes’) that maintain ’the sea chart blockchain’ had to be setup to initiate such verification services but this appears to be only a matter of motivation since the technology is readily available and is in public domain.

‘Unofficial charts’ on the Horizon?

It is a known, albeit ignored, fact that private chartmakers are more than capable of producing charts of high quality and reliability.
Modern standards such as IHO S-44/S-57/S-100/S-102 have made it possible to produce digital charts of unparalleled precision that can easily be distributed without the need to run a printing plant that requires heavy investment.
Speaking of the Caribbean, modern cruise ships would not be able to enter small ports without tailor-made charts that have not been available from the relevant HOs and were contracted out to private chartmakers.
But, again - these ships have to take legal risks using such charts because of the SOLAS regulations that stipulate charts by HOs, ignoring the fact that the very same ships would run a risk of running aground using them exclusively.

This will place the IMO, the HOs, and all bodies whose services rely on the IMO rules, like the insurance and the certification industry, in a predicament.
The justification for the monopoly of the official charts is likely to be challenged.

Financing More Surveys

Shortly before Irma and Maria swept the approaches to the Virgin Islands and way up to Florida, the umbrella organisation of the HOs, i.e. the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), had called out for crowdsourcing of bathymetric data.
Their Crowdsourced Bathymetry Working Group (CSBWG) is examining ‘how best to incorporate, manage and use bathymetric data acquired by other than conventional means’.
To collect these data the IHO set up its Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry (DCDB).

Port of Rotterdam sounding charts

In parallel, the International Harbour Master Association (IHMA) has asked its members to comment on the IHO initiative.
It goes without saying that the IHMA itself is interested in the production of better approach charts to meet the demands of the ever larger vessels, and increasing traffic.
Some ports are even making their own charts, and pilots are using ‘unofficial’ i.e. not IMO-backed ENCs compiled by services other than their local HO.
As a rule, port ENCs are more accurate and more up to date than the official ones.

Bathymetric + ENC

courtesy of QPS

Where is this leading to? Asking for freely available bathymetry is one thing, but financing it is another.
Although installing a data recording device onboard a commercial vessel or a pleasure craft that collects single beam bathymetry while going in and out of ports can be seen as a contribution to the safety of shipping, it also means an investment, even if relatively small.
In addition, this type of bathymetric data can be used to confirm or otherwise the actuality of an existing chart, but it is not enough to make a new chart.
For this we need serious, professional, multibeam, in other words expensive, bathymetry (Figure 4) to be done.
Funding and organising a survey campaign by national authorities is a major task and takes time, time that disaster areas such as the Caribbean do not have.

Conclusion

Production of the navigational charts has been an exclusive domain of the national Hydrographic Offices (HOs) for a long time.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), an organ of the United Nations, stipulates in their Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) regulations that only the charts made by the HOs meet the carriage requirements for commercial shipping.
Every ship has to meet these requirements to be considered seaworthy by the port control, coast guards, seafarer unions, and the insurance industry.

So, doesn’t calling out for more accurate and up-to-date bathymetry in reality mean asking for crowdfunding rather than crowdsourcing?
Which leads us directly to the question: why should private capital invest in a survey of a fairway, let alone the vast coastal areas when it is made clear that this is the domain of national HOs, which are often run by governments that are not used to sharing their data, not to mention the income from the sales of charts?

Offering return on investment is essential when asking for private capital.
Though one can think of a world where the HOs pay license fees to commercial entities for their bathymetric data in a private-public-partnership (PPP) arrangement, it is not likely to happen any time soon on a big scale.
There must be other ways.

It is firmly believed that the time has come to start trusting the privately produced/ commercial nautical charts, to put them on the same level as the official ones and to clarify the relevant liability issues.
Technology is available and in place.

 Multibeam 3D data (ESRI)

If the private sector is to pour money into the production of nautical charts to help out the HOs in their task to ascertain the safety of navigation and the international shipping then we need a new basis for mutual trust.
The DLT technology offers a way forward for a renaissance of the profession of private chartmakers working shoulder to shoulder with HOs who are free to join the effort on the same basis.

This will be of great benefit to international shipping.
Navigators, captains and pilots will be able to use the best nautical data available, no matter whether it is of ‘official’ or ‘private’ origin.
IMO regulations should follow suit.

What truly matters is that charts be reliable, accurate and up to date.

Links :

• GeoGarage blog : How blockchain is strengthening tuna traceability to combat illegal fishing
• Hydro : Port of Rotterdam : innovative hydrography

The internet's worst-case scenario finally happened in real life: An entire country was taken offline, and no one knows why

A map of undersea internet cables showing Mauritania's single link to the global infrastructure.TeleGeography/Business Insider

From Business Insider by Jim Edwards

• Mauritania was taken offline for two days late last month after a submarine internet cable was cut.
• No one knows why or how it was cut, though Sierra Leone's government appears to have interfered with its citizens' internet access around that time.
• Undersea web cables are uniquely vulnerable to sabotage.
• UK and US military officials have previously indicated that Russia is capable of trying something like this, though there is no indication that it was involved in this break.

News and data being produced and managed by the Kingfisher division of Seafish.
* Please note that pipeline routes have been thinned for use on this website. Whilst still representing the true position, this enables a suitable refresh rate for viewing over the internet. The images used to display the various surface and subsea objects on the map are shown for information purposes only and are not a true representation of the surface or seabed structures

For years, countries have worried that a hostile foreign power might cut the undersea cables that supply the world with internet service.

 source : www.submarinecablemap.com

As of early 2018, there are approximately 448 submarine cables in service around the world.

The total number of cables is constantly changing as new cables enter service and older cable are decommissioned.
As of 2018, there are over 1.2 million kilometers of submarine cables in service globally.

Some cables are quite short, like the 131 kilometer CeltixConnect cable between Ireland the United Kingdom.

In contrast, others are incredibly long, such as the 20,000 kilometer Asia America Gateway cable.

Late last month, we got a taste of what that might be like.
An entire country, Mauritania, was taken offline for two days because an undersea cable was cut.

Et voici donc les photos de la coupure du câble ACE devant Nouakchott prises par le Pierre de Fermat avant réparation.
Cause probable : un chalut qui a relevé et coupé le câble et donc provoqué une panne majeure pour la Mauritanie pic.twitter.com/XNXizvBJxd

— Jean-Luc Vuillemin (@jlvuillemin) April 10, 2018

The 17,000-kilometer African Coast to Europe submarine cable, which connects 22 countries from France to South Africa, was severed on March 30, cutting off web access partially or totally to the residents of Sierra Leone and Mauritania.

It also affected service in Ivory Coast, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Gambia, and Benin, according to Dyn, a web-infrastructure company owned by Oracle.

It is not clear how the cable was cut. But the government of Sierra Leone seems to have imposed an internet blackout on the night of March 31 in an attempt to influence an election there.

There had not been a significant outage along the cable in the past five years.

Loss of service to Mauritania was particularly severe, as the Dyn chart below shows.
"The most significant and longest-lasting disruption was seen in Mauritania, with a complete outage lasting for nearly 48 hours, followed by partial restoration of connectivity," David Belson wrote in a Dyn research blog on Thursday.

The international cable system has several levels of built-in redundancy that allowed providers such as Africell, Orange, Sierra Leone Cable, and Sierratel to restore service.

But the break shows just how vulnerable the worldwide web is to the simple act of cutting a cable. About 97% of all international data is carried on such cables, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Here's a map from the telecom analytics company TeleGeography of the cables in Europe:

And those connecting the US:

TeleGeography

UK and US military intelligence officials have repeatedly warned that relatively little is done to guard the safety of the cables and that Russia's navy continually conducts activities near them.

In 2013, three divers were arrested in Egypt after attempting to cut submarine web cables.

"In the most severe scenario of an all-out attack upon undersea cable infrastructure by a hostile actor the impact of connectivity loss is potentially catastrophic, but even relatively limited sabotage has the potential to cause significant economic disruption and damage military communications," James Stavridis, a retired US Navy admiral, said in a 2017 report for the think tank Policy Exchange.

"Russian submarine forces have undertaken detailed monitoring and targeting activities in the vicinity of North Atlantic deep-sea cable infrastructure," he added.

There is no indication that Russia was involved in the ACE breakage.
But military strategists are likely to study the Mauritania break as an example of the effect of knocking a country off the web by cutting its cables.

Links :

• Dyn : ACE Submarine Cable Cut Impacts Ten Countries
• The Verge : A broken submarine cable knocked a country off the internet for two days
• The independant : Entire country taken offline for two days after undersea internet cable cut