Resolution A.916(22)

GUIDELINES FOR THE RECORDING OF EVENTS RELATED TO NAVIGATION

(adopted on 29 November 2001)

THE ASSEMBLY,

RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention on the Inter­national Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety;

RECALLING ALSO the provisions of regulation V/28 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, requiring all ships engaged on international voyages to keep on board a record of navigational activities and incidents which are of importance to safety of navigation and which must contain sufficient detail to restore a complete record of the voy­age, taking into account the recommendations adopted by the Organization;

HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendations made by the Maritime Safety Committee at its seventy-third session;

1. ADOPTS the Guidelines for the Recording of Events Re­lated to navigation set out in Annex to the present resolution;

2. INVITES Member Governments concerned to take into ac­count these Guidelines when implementing SOLAS regulation V/28.

3. REQUESTS the Maritime Safety Committee to keep the guidelines under review and amend them as appropriate.

Annex

GUIDELINES FOR THE RECORDING OF EVENTS RELATED TO NAVIGATION

Regulation V/28 of the SOLAS Convention 1974 requires all ships engaged on international voyages to keep on board a record of navigational activities and incidents which are of im­portance to safety of navigation and which must contain suffi­cient detail to restore a complete record of the voyage, taking into account the recommendations adopted by the Organization.

These Guidelines aims at providing guidance for the record­ing of such events.

1. Recording of information related to navigation

In addition to national requirements, it is recommended that the following events and items, as appropriate, be among those recorded:

.1 before commencing the voyage

Details of all data relating to the general condition of the ship should be acknowledged and recorded, such as manning and provisioning, cargo aboard, draught, result of stability/stress checks when conducted, inspection of controls, steering gear, navigational and radiocommunication equipment.

.2 during the voyage

Details related to the voyage of the ship should be re­corded, such as courses steered and distances sailed, po­sition fixings, weather and sea conditions, changes to the voyage plan, details of pilot's embarkation/disem­barkation and entry into and compliance with routeing schemes or reporting measures.

.3 on special events

Details on extraordinary events should be recorded, such as death and injuries among the crew, malfunc­tions of shipboard equipment and aids to navigation, potentially hazardous situations, emergencies and dis­tress messages received.

.4 when the ship is at anchor or in a port

Details on ships operational or administrative matters and details related to the safety and security of the ship.

2. Method of recording

Regulation V/28 of the SOLAS Convention 1974 requires that, if the records of navigational activities are not maintained in the ship's logbook, they should be maintained in another form approved by the Administration. Methods of recording should be permanent and may be handwritten, electronical or mechanical.

3. Non-duplication

In general, information on the events and items in para­graph 1