VDRs will become more sophisticated
Voyage data recorders (VDRs), which are playing a major role in accident investigation, will become more sophisticated and the data will be recovered easier.
At the Nav 57 meeting, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed a new performance standard for VDRs to counter the major failing of the system where crew fail to back up or save data immediately following an accident. For instance,when the 270,000-dwt Hebei Spirit (built 1993) spilled 10,000 tonnes of crude oil off South Korea in 2009,the inability of the crew to back up data on the VDR was cited against them in a subsequent court case.
Data proves to be expensive or impossible to retrieve when a vessel sinks. Recovering the VDR from the 2,400-gt expedition cruiseship Explorer (built 1969), which sank in the Antarctic, is estimated to have cost up to $3m and is the subject of a legal dispute over payment. An official investigation into the accident criticised the crew for not removing the VDR before the ship sank.
Under the new IMO regulation, which is subject to final approval from 2014, VDRs should be capable of saving the most recent 48 hours of data for up to two years. They must also br protected against fire and permanently attached to the ship.Ships must also have an additional recording medium that will save data for six months which will be held in a float-free capsule that will be released following the loss of a vessel.
An additional feature of VDRs is that they will also be required to be fitted with independent inclinometers or motion sensors to allow movement such as heel angle and roll to be monitored.