Part B / B1 — Operative Shiphandling

1. Overview

Source: IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP), Resolution A.918(22), 2001 — Part B, B1 Operative Shiphandling: B1/1 Handing over the watch (briefing completo em 13 blocos) e B1/2 Trim, List and Stability.

Syllabus: Anexo 2-B (Introduction, General, Glossary) · Anexo 2-A, item VI.1.5.1 (Condução da embarcação).

Part B of the SMCP adds further on-board phrases to the safety-related core of Part A. Inside Part B, the block B ON-BOARD COMMUNICATION PHRASES (B) carries B1 Operative Shiphandling, which opens with B1/1 Handing over the watch, a fixed sequence of briefing topics on which the officer of the watch should brief the relieving officer, and closes with a second block, B1/2, on trim, list and stability.

The handover itself runs in thirteen numbered stages, B1/1.1 to B1/1.13, each a fixed briefing topic in this order: position, movements and draft; the traffic situation; navigational aids and equipment status; radiocommunications; meteorological conditions; standing orders and bridge organization; special events; temperatures, pressures and soundings; main engine and auxiliary equipment; pumping of fuel and ballast water; special machinery events and repairs; record keeping; and, last, the handing and taking over of the watch and the conn itself. Every phrase in this chapter belongs to one of these thirteen stages, or to B1/2 on trim, list and stability, and is reproduced in the order the Code prints it.

2. Position, Movement and Draft

B1/1.1 opens the handover with three groups of facts, briefed in this order: the ship's position, her movements, and her draft. The Code introduces the block with a single instruction: "The officer of the watch should brief the relieving officer on the following:"

2.1 Position

The present position is given by one of six alternative endings to the same opening words. The Code marks this pattern with a tilde (~): a line that starts with ~ repeats the invariable stem of the line printed above it — here, "The present position is" — and supplies only the variable ending. This convention repeats through the rest of the chapter; wherever it appears again, a ~ line is read the same way: stem, plus whatever follows the ~.

2.2 Movements

The movements briefing opens with the course — true course, gyro compass course or magnetic compass course — and with the error of each compass, then gives speed over ground or through water, set and drift, and the leeway the ship is making; it closes with the course board and the next chart.

2.3 Draft

Three figures close the B1/1.1 briefing, all in metres.

3. Traffic Situation

3.1 Vessels in the area

B1/1.2 briefs the traffic situation vessel by vessel. A vessel may be overtaking, on an opposite course, or passing to port or starboard side; a vessel crossing from port side is described by its own give-way status, and a vessel crossing from starboard side is described by own ship's status instead. The block closes with the general picture — traffic density, radar targets, and the threshold for calling the Master.

4. Navigational Aids and Radiocommunications

4.1 Navigational aids and equipment status

B1/1.3 briefs radar range and mode, GPS/LORAN, echo sounder, steering mode and navigation lights.

4.2 Radiocommunications

B1/1.4 briefs which radio systems are switched on, what was received, and what the Pilot station or VTS station requires — a list of eight alternative endings to "The Pilot station / VTS station requires," plus a ninth left open.

5. Meteorological Conditions

5.1 Weather and sea state briefing

B1/1.5 covers current, visibility, sea state, wind and pressure, and closes with any gale or tropical storm warning issued for the area, with the time it was issued. Visibility, like position, is briefed with a tilde pair — two alternative endings to "Visibility is expected."

6. Standing Orders and Special Events

6.1 Standing orders and bridge organization

B1/1.6 briefs the standing orders in force, checks that the relieving officer understands them, and confirms the latest fire and security patrols before the two watch posts are declared standing by.

6.2 Special events

7. Machinery, Pressures and Pumping

7.1 Temperatures, pressures and soundings

B1/1.8 briefs equipment temperature and pressure, each with the same three-line pattern — a figure or "to maintain," an "above/below normal," or "critical" — followed by the minimum/maximum temperature and the pressure not to exceed. It closes with tank and hold soundings.

7.2 Main engine and auxiliary equipment

7.3 Pumping of fuel, ballast water, etc.

7.4 Special machinery events and repairs

8. Record Keeping and Handing Over

8.1 Record keeping

B1/1.12 closes the technical part of the handover with the ship's logs and the recording equipment that feeds them — the data logger, the echo sounder and any other recorder.

8.2 Handing and taking over the watch / conn

B1/1.13 gives the exact words for two situations: the handover by the Master, the Chief Engineer or an (engineer) officer handing over the watch, and the Master or Chief Engineer called to the bridge / engine (control) room and formally taking over the watch. The Code names the conn only in the heading of B1/1.13. Both are two-line exchanges.

9. Trim, List and Stability

9.1 Correcting the list

B1/2 opens with the ship's fore-and-aft and sideways condition, then gives the two ways to correct a list: transferring liquids between tanks, or restowing cargo.

9.2 Improving the stability

The stability block gives four remedies, two more than the list block: filling double bottom tanks by number (.6) — which has no counterpart among the ways of correcting a list — transferring fuel, ballast, fresh water or oil between tanks (.7–.7.1), restowing cargo, here in the hold(s) or on deck (.8–.8.1), and restowing containers from one stated location to another (.9–.9.1).