Qualification questions for icebound seas

Increasing shipping activity in polar waters calls for a rethink of traditional ice training

By Vittorio Lippay

In the last decade, because of new opportunities in the extractive and tourism activities, the sea traffic in the Arctic corridors has increased by 7% each year. Demand for bridge personnel qualified for navigation in sea ice conditions has followed suit.

The IMO International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, enacted in 2017, covers design, construction and equipment, search and rescue, environmental protection and training matters for ships operating about the two poles. Under the Code, which was mandatory as of July 1, 2018, the master, the chief mate, and all officers of the watch (OOWs) of any vessel sailing in polar waters with more than 1/10 ice cover must hold a certificate of proficiency (CoP) in advanced training for service issued by national authorities or approved substitutes. Watchstanders of tankers and passenger ships operating in waters with less than 1/10 ice cover need a basic training certificate. The certificates must be re-validated every five years.

In the past, the training to acquire the preliminary skills and expertise for navigation in icebound seas was based exclusively on learning while aboard ships sailing in polar waters. The rising demand for qualified officers has accelerated the introduction of virtual reality (VR) simulators designed to improve the quality of education while reducing the real training time and its expenses. In the UK, for instance, for CoP qualification the Nautical Institute requires 30 days (about 4 and a half weeks) minimum experience in ice conditions as Master or as OOW of which up to half may be met by successful completion of an approved ice navigation course using a simulator.

Similarly, the Swedish Maritime Administration has approved the use of simulator training while working towards the advanced certificate. “Virtual reality is a particularly important and valid tool for the students to get a better understanding of manoeuvring around and in ice,” says Jan Persson, senior mariner advisor and Polar Code specialist of the 90North Ice Consulting company in Sweden.

Traffic increase

Considering the steady growth in Arctic traffic – some of which is passenger cruises – the question has been raised whether the current IMO qualification rules should be revised, requiring more practice and virtual training. While global warming opens new sea corridors, intensive ice melting complicates navigation because of more drifting ice on some routes.

Persson explains: “You can exercise almost everything in VR, but you will never get the feeling for the sound, or on how the vessel is moving side to side when running into an ice field, or when you need to go astern when you are stuck. Presently, VR will approximate about 75% of the experience.”

According to Persson, who has trained hundreds of watchstanders, the level of expertise currently required by the 2017 Polar Code is a good start, but then officers need to gain more experience day by day. “There’s a big difference if you navigate in polar waters in summer or in winter,” says Persson. “One does not become an expert pilot after having been to Svalbard or Greenland just one or two times. It will take many, many years in ice, both in summer and winter conditions.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, for this article I interviewed Capt Paul Ruzycki of Martech Polar, a company specialising in ice pilotage and polar navigation worldwide. Ruzycki’s first ‘taste’ of polar navigation was 30 years ago on the Bering Sea and north coast of Alaska.

Having found his first ‘ice edge’, Ruzycki was hooked on sailing through icebound waters, and to date has undertaken 23 expeditions to the polar seas including six to Antarctic seas.

Ruzycki said that he has observed sailing on various vessels with numerous international crews where many of the bridge team officers have acquired their CoP for operating in polar waters. “Much of the ‘ice sea time’ had been logged in summer months, where their ships have a low ice class and they have been sailing in polar waters (as defined by the Polar Code), but not necessarily ‘ice infested waters’, where they must manoeuvre the vessel to avoid dangerous ice types or where their standing orders say that there shall be NO ice contact.”

Ruzycki adds: “In such conditions there is a need to understand the different peculiarities of ice types and movements, such as first year ice, second year ice, multi-year ice and ice of land origin (glacial ice). Also important is understanding which type of ice is of a greater concern to their ice class ship and route or destination. This has the potential for someone to become overconfident or complacent while sailing in polar waters. “Many of the bridge officers have obtained enough time on polar waters to receive their CoPs without, however, having to avoid much ice during the summer months.”

In Ruzycky’s opinion a ‘real ice navigator’ is someone who has spent most of their seagoing career sailing on polar waters and continues to do so. “Someone who has had the time and experience of sailing with mentors who were keen and willing to share knowledge to bridge officers who showed an above average interest while sailing on icy seas and who showed that they were trying to learn the various ways to operate the ships safely through the ice, as well as to take the criticism of how they were performing on the job and how they could do it better.”

Arctic cruise risks

Passenger cruise ships in the Arctic usually sail in waters with little or no ice cover at all. Over 100 cruise ships sail there regularly, of which some of the more recent ones feature a higher polar class. This marks the intention to venture deeper into the Arctic than before to offer clients more attractive and exciting tours at less exploited latitudes. There is a level of thrill to be derived from a cruise to the poles, but Lara Johannisdottir of the University of Iceland and her colleagues at the University of Aberdeen in their extensive 2021 research on Systemic risk of cruise incident from an Arctic and insurance perspective, remind us of the 2013 accident of Costa Concordia in Italy. A similar event in a remote, freezing and rough environment in the Arctic, with no Isola del Giglio ready to assist at hand, would lead to much more serious consequences for cruise passengers. Complacency in Mediterranean waters cost $2 billion and 32 human lives.

The Canadian Coast Guard warns: “Beyond the requirements, having an experienced person guiding the ship when there is the potential for encountering sea ice is always recommended.”

On this issue Ruzycky adds: “I would like to see tighter controls on who may be an ice navigator. That is: not a bridge officer who has minimum ‘ice sea time’, with only a basic a CoP and who thinks they are doing well.”

Vittorio Lippay is a member of the Institute of Physics and a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.