Navigation and Passage Planning
Passage planning is examined at written and oral level, and Egyptian examiners normally attach the plan to a short coastal or canal transit - typically Port Said to Suez, or the approaches to Alexandria or Damietta. What is tested is whether you can build a berth-to-berth plan from chart and publication data, justify the under-keel clearance policy you applied, and name abort points, abort lines and contingency anchorages before you need them.
The four stages (IMO Res. A.893(21))
- Appraisal - collate charts and ENCs, sailing directions, tide tables, notices to mariners, canal rules, weather and forecasts, and ship data (draft, air draft, manoeuvring booklet, turning circles).
- Planning - lay the track with waypoints clear of hazards, mark no-go areas, wheel-over points, abort points, contingency anchorages and abort lines; set ECDIS safety contour, safety depth and route-check for isolated dangers and leg/radius errors.
- Execution - verify position by an independent means before each alteration; con by parallel index or clearing bearings.
- Monitoring - compare progress against the plan, cross-track distance, ETA and traffic, and re-plan when the plan no longer fits reality.
Suez Canal specifics
Transit is governed by the Suez Canal Authority Rules of Navigation: convoy timing, maximum authorised draft (about 20.1 m / 66 ft), air-draft limits for the canal bridges, escort tug and mooring-boat requirements. The plan must include the waiting area (Port Said roads or Great Bitter Lake), mooring arrangements and the position where the pilot boards.
Worked example - under-keel clearance
Charted depth 14.2 m; predicted tide +0.6 m; draft 11.8 m; squat at planned speed 0.9 m; heel allowance 0.3 m. UKC = (14.2 + 0.6) − (11.8 + 0.9 + 0.3) = 14.8 − 13.0 = 1.8 m. Against a company minimum of 10% of draft (1.18 m) this passes. But if the same leg is run at a speed producing 1.4 m of squat, UKC falls to 1.3 m - still legal, but the margin is thin, so the plan should cap speed rather than assume the deeper figure.
Traps that cost marks
- Planning to charted depth and forgetting squat, heel and tide.
- Saying "ECDIS route check" without mentioning the safety settings that make the check meaningful.
- No named abort points, abort lines or contingency anchorages.
- Treating a canal transit as an ordinary sea passage, ignoring SCA rules and convoy timing.