Bridge Team Management & Ship Handling
| Course requirement | STCW recommended |
| Duration in hours | 40 |
| STCW references | A-II/1, A-II/2, A-VIII/2, B-I/12, B-VIII/2 |
This course is intended to help all Masters and Deck Officers refresh their skills in conducting safe and prudent navigation, and allowing them to enhance skills within the BTM concept, to ensure that risk of human error is minimized and the goal of zero tolerance to accidents is clearly understood.
Incidents and lessons learnt from within the Company and industry will also be discussed. Simulator exercises will be conducted in the areas of trade applicable.
The course is designated for Masters, Chief Officers, other officers and future officers who are in charge of navigation and watchkeeping, such as pilots.
On completion of the course trainees should have gained additional knowledge and experience in handling ships under various conditions and make a more effective contribution to the bridge team during ship manoeuvring in normal and emergency situations.
They will be able to make efficient and effective use of Radar/ARPA/ECDIS as a navigational aid in congested, confined waters, recognized potential threats and make valid navigational and collision-avoidance decisions. They will be aware of the time needed to appreciate that a dangerous situation is developing, (forward thinking) and realize the importance of continually assessing and reassessing the situation in order to decide upon the appropriate action and to ascertain that such action is adequate and does not give rise to further conflicts with other vessels. They will also realize that excessive speed in poor visibility reduces the time available to assess a threat and to take appropriate action. They will also gain ability to plan, organize and manage a bridge team, making use of all navigational data.
Also appreciate the fact that communications is a key factor within the bridge team management concept, both aboard the vessel and with outside 3rd parties.
Those wishing to enter this course should have experience in performing passage planning and should be able to practice all usual tasks concerning standard navigational procedures and equipment. They should be familiar with the functions and limitations of navigational equipment. They should preferably be familiar with standard computer multimedia devices, including elements such as windows, menus, trackball, etc.
This training course is practical and theoretical and consists of a series of exercises performed on a ship handling simulator with one own ship and a number of others controlled by the instructor.
Exercises are controlled and monitored by an instructor and, initially, allowed the trainees to become familiar with the equipment, the controls and the instrumentation provided by the simulator.
Exercises involve observing the movement of ships seen on the Radar/ARPA/ECDIS, recognizing those presenting a threat of collision and taking action to avoid collisions, manoeuvring characteristics of the ships model and its response to the engine and helm in various conditions. The exercises increase in complexity as the course progresses and as trainees become familiar with equipment and functionalities of the simulator.
Equipment failure or malfunction will be introduced during the later exercises to allow trainees practice in taking emergency preventive action and to practice bridge teamwork in critical situations.
Each exercise will be preceded by a session for briefing and planning and be followed by a debriefing.