INSPECTIONS ARE CARRIED OUT TO ENSURE ALL SAFETY BARRIERS ARE IN PLACE AND NOT TO TARGET SHIPS' CREWS

The vessel “Pacific Grace” was en route to Rotterdam and preparing for a Rightship inspection.

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Second Officer James was slightly nervous because this was his first vetting inspection after being promoted to Second Mate. Furthermore, Pacific Grace had an excellent track record, especially in recent years, with no observations reported on the bridge.

Chief Officer Kumar had used the Navguide application on his previous vessel and decided to help Second Mate James. He chose to role-play and conduct a bridge audit.

Hi James, I will be conducting a bridge inspection and would like to ask you a few questions and review some documents. James replied in a calm voice, "Absolutely, please go ahead. I’m ready.”

The Chief Officer (mock vetting inspector) started with very simple questions. He aimed to review the Master's night order book, compass error book, and radar log book, and asked basic questions about the difference between X and S band radars and the use of the shadow sector diagram, which James answered confidently.

Then the inspector began examining the company's bridge procedures more closely and wanted to review the procedures related to avoiding distractions on the bridge, the bridge manning levels, and so Again, James was very confident and responded to all the questions in a calm and composed manner.

The inspector then examined the speed log and asked James several questions, including how to verify accuracy and which PMS checks he would perform where the records are maintained.

He then proceeded to scrutinise the passage plan and crosschecked various points with the ECDIS and the Company's navigational procedures. Some points included the Company's procedures on CATZOC, UKC, position fixing, and parallel indexing, and he appeared satisfied with how James was responding.