Passage planning in cold environments

Polar areas are being increasingly used by passenger ships on scheduled cruises. The Arctic ice has receded, allowing navigation to take place ‘north about’, from Europe to Asia and the USA.

Focusing on passage planning for cold environments, this e-learning module describes the sources of passage planning information and explains ‘strategic’ and ‘tactical’ passage plans for ice-infested waters. Considering navigation in the North West Passage and Northern Sea Route, it also gives details on the role of the ‘Ice Navigator’ and how that person fits into the bridge team. The course concludes with a description of how navigational instruments become less reliable at high latitude.

Learning objectives:

• Obtain information to allow a complete appraisal of a route in high latitudes, and effectively plan a passage through ice-infested waters from berth to berth
• Identify the qualifications and role of an ‘Ice Navigator’, and when such a person should be employed on a vessel
• Recognize that position fixing in high latitudes is more difficult and that navigation equipment is subject to large errors at times
• State the documents relevant to assist passage planning in Polar areas and recognize the special considerations that should be given to high latitude navigation