VDR incident investigation is not a theoretical risk. Every VDR records continuously, and every recorded passage is, in principle, available for formal review. The question that rarely gets asked before something goes wrong is: if an investigator pulled that data…
The Master Pilot Exchange has a box for tug bollard pull. In most cases the comparison gets made — if the tug bollard pull exceeds what the ship’s fittings can carry, the instruction goes to the tug master: be easy,…
During a recent VDR audit, I reviewed the port approach and berthing of a vessel calling at a busy commercial port. The Master Pilot Exchange (MPX) checklist was complete. Every item had been covered — passage plan, berth details, tugs,…
Most VDR audits begin and end with a compliance requirement. A SIRE inspection is coming. A TMSA review is due. The audit is commissioned, the report is received, and the box is ticked. The proactive use of VDR data —…
The new SOLAS lifting appliances regulation 2026 — SOLAS Regulation II-1/3-13 — came into force on 1 January 2026. Adopted under IMO Resolution MSC.532(107), it establishes mandatory requirements for the design, testing, examination, and maintenance of lifting appliances and anchor…
The radar performance monitor ship check is one of the most consistently recorded entries in a vessel’s radar log. It is also, based on VDR data across hundreds of audits, one of the most consistently unperformed. The screen does not…
I have reviewed VDR data from vessels approaching complex port entrances where the planned route placed the ship in a higher-risk position than necessary — and where no one on the bridge had questioned it before departure. The plan had…
I have reviewed hundreds of hours of VDR data. One pattern shows up more than almost any other: a manual fix plotted on the ECDIS, time stamped correctly — and completely absent from the radar screen. No VRM movement. No…
VDR navigational audit programmes exist because of a simple truth I learned in eighteen years at sea: what happens on the bridge when an assessor walks through the door is not what happens at 0300 on a rainy Wednesday in…
I am often asked by ship managers and owners how VDR audits work. Not in abstract terms — but practically. What do I look at first? What does the data tell me that a traditional inspection cannot? And what does…