Presentation copywriting - UKHO
UKHO was a lead sponsor at 2009's Sea Asia, held over three days in Singapore, probably the single biggest event in Asian shipping, where the region's industry comes together to debate issues of local and international importance.
We wrote a package of presentations to be delivered throughout the event.
Welcome to the future...
It’s no exaggeration to say that we are on the verge of a navigation revolution - the biggest change in navigation for over 200 years.
When you were out on the oceans of the world – and I have no doubt that most if not all of you were, before you discovered the delights of expense accounts and international conferences – you would have worked your way from A to B using one of these. Or several of these. And the fact is, what you were using, and what you were doing, would have been immediately recognisable – perfectly familiar – to a mariner of 100 years before.
That’s all about to change. Within a decade, navigation will be done in a way that would be completely unrecognisable to that mariner of a century ago. There will still be paper charts – there will probably be paper charts on board most vessels for many years to come. But increasingly they will be there as backup. Increasingly they will spend their voyages tucked away in lockers rather than spread out on desks. Increasingly, navigation will be done – as everything else these days is done – using computer power.
Why is the paper chart giving way to the computer? Well, for the same reason silicon has been steadily taking over from paper in just about every other field of human endeavour over the last few years. Because it’s better. Because it’s cheaper. Because it’s easier to update and extend as things change, and has the flexibility to keep pace with rapidly-changing demands. And, most importantly from the IMO’s perspective, because it’s more dependable, which is to say – safer.
It’s for this reason above all that the IMO has made it clear that despite mutterings from various parts of the industry, it is determined to push ahead with mandation. Which means that unless something really radical intervenes, within three years, mandation will start to take real effect on businesses like yours. By the time the deadline kicks in for the vessels you manage, they will need to be using ECDIS for their primary navigation. Just take a look at this slide:
So, depending on your vessels, you either have digital, or you have plans in hand, or you have a big challenge ahead of you, and not a great deal of time.
This is a situation that may not please you! I can quite understand how shipping superintendents may be thinking: as if I didn’t have enough on my plate! What’s wrong with paper? I worked hard to develop the skills to use paper charts, and use them well – and they worked fine. Why can’t today’s mariners? Why, now, has the IMO decided to load us with this new burden – why are they so determined to fix it, when it ain’t broke?
Well, much as we sympathise with that position, I think it’s only right that I put our cards on the table. We at UKHO are behind the IMO 100% on this. We’ve believed for years that digital is the way ahead for the industry. Why?
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