Every day, vessels embark on voyages that rely on a solid passage plan. While passage planning is required, there is always room to build greater resilience into this process. Enhanced passage planning is a concept designed to do just that, taking standard procedures and enhancing them with practical measures.
At its core, this concept recognises the importance of port-specific knowledge. This is where “port cards” come in, documents that gather critical information, from navigational challenges to photographs of key areas and lessons learnt by sister vessels. By continually updating these cards, crews can arrive better prepared with plans for propulsion, mooring, and potential hazards clearly communicated well before approach.
Another key element involves safety margins. These are not just theoretical buffers between normal operations and no-go areas; they’re a deliberate resource. Maintaining an agreed safety margin among the entire bridge team improves situational awareness, making it easier for any crew member to voice concerns if the vessel starts to encroach on that safety margin. The team can then intervene early, without blame or embarrassment and take corrective action.
Effective communication underpins all these practices. Simple techniques, such as “thinking aloud” before altering course or speed, ensures every officer on the bridge understands the intended manoeuvre. Meanwhile, closed-loop communication helps confirm that instructions are received and repeated correctly. For more complex or potentially contentious situations, the PACE tool (Probe, Alert, Challenge, Emergency) guides the escalation of concerns, enabling a supportive dialogue rather than confrontation and reinforcing mutual respect.
Ultimately, enhanced passage planning isn’t about creating an endless list of checkboxes. It’s about building adaptability and resilience into a vessel’s navigation processes. By constantly reviewing outcomes, good or bad and updating procedures, a vessel’s crew is better equipped to handle unforeseen circumstances. Even the best plan can’t cover every contingency, but a bridge team trained to adapt and openly communicate will be well prepared to identify small issues before they become big ones.
In a world where time is money, the added effort of refining passage planning pays off in peace of mind, fewer claims, and above all, greater safety at sea.
Read the full publication at The Swedish Club https://www.swedishclub.com/media/loss-prevention/
