NYK Introduces New Navigation Support Tool
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), the Monohakobi Technology Institute and Japan Radio have jointly developed a support tool that enables officers to better manage and share navigational information.
The tool will be sold by JRC under the name “J-Marine NeCST”.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has made ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System) mandatory by 2018 on international voyages by passenger vessels over 500 gross tonnage (GT) and cargo vessels over 3,000 GT.
However, additional navigational information cannot be written by hand on ECDIS, as can easily be done on a conventional paper chart.
J-Marine NeCST solves that problem by including a very useful input function that lets users write directly on electronic charts.
The tool also integrates meteorological and hydrographical forecasts for the preparation of optimal route plans. Moreover, electronic maps and data can be promptly integrated and shared among ships and land, making J-Marine NeCST a very complementary tool to the ECDIS.