Navigation, radio and the voyage data recorder

The bridge is where a ship’s safety equipment is used every minute of every watch, and it is also where port State control officers find a large share of their deficiencies. In 2024 the Tokyo MOU recorded 8,066 safety of navigation deficiencies and 1,244 radio communication deficiencies on the ships it inspected, together about 12% of everything it found. When things go wrong, the bridge equipment is also what investigators rely on: the voyage data recorder of the cargo ship El Faro, lost with all 33 people on board in 2015, was recovered from 15,250 feet below the surface and gave the NTSB more than 26 hours of bridge audio and data. It also showed that the ship’s wind data were wrong.

This course follows the equipment from the carriage rules to the test bench. It starts with SOLAS Chapter V, regulation 19, and what a ship must carry at each size. It then covers the tests and surveys that keep the equipment honest: the annual performance test of the voyage data recorder (VDR) under SOLAS V/18.8 and MSC.1/Circ.1222/Rev.1, the radio survey under the modernised GMDSS rules that came into force on 1 January 2024, radar and ARPA performance checks, compass adjustment and the deviation card, and the annual test of the automatic identification system (AIS). The last lesson shows what port State control looks at and what gets ships detained. It uses the IMO Procedures for port State control, 2025 and the HSSC Survey Guidelines, 2025, both adopted in December 2025.

Each rule statement is cited to the instrument and paragraph, so you can check it against your flag’s own circulars and the equipment manuals. For your particular equipment, the manufacturer’s instructions always come first.

What you will learn

• Work out which navigation and radio equipment a ship must carry from its size, type, build date and sea areas, under SOLAS V/19 and the 2024 SOLAS Chapter IV.
• Plan and witness a VDR annual performance test, and check the certificate of compliance and the 45-day manufacturer review.
• Follow a GMDSS radio survey: what the radio surveyor tests, which records and batteries are checked, and what changed with the modernised GMDSS.
• Check radar and ARPA against the IMO performance standards and find common faults: heading line errors, performance loss and lost sensor inputs.
• Know when a magnetic compass must be adjusted, who may adjust it, and what a valid deviation card and compass book look like for your flag.
• Prepare for the AIS annual test and a port State control inspection of the bridge, and know which defects can lead to detention.