Operators Urged To Upgrade From Coastal Explorer To Rose Point ECS

By Frank McCormack

Rose Point has been producing electronic charting and navigation software since the 2003 debut of Coastal Explorer. Originally designed for PCs, Coastal Explorer is now designed for both Android and Apple platforms as well. With searchable charts, route planning, virtual instrument displays and other features, like obstacle alerts, Rose Point's Coastal Explorer is an extremely popular platform.

"We have over 10,000 Coastal Explorer licenses out there," said Joe Sluka, commercial marine sales director for Rose Point Navigation Systems. Sluka estimates 70 percent of the licenses for Coastal Explorer are held by recreational boaters. "But 30 percent of 10,000 is still 3,000," he said.

Between 2003 and 2009, Coastal Explorer was the only electronic marine charting software Rose Point offered, and many commercial mariners, like towboat captains, bought the software to aid in their operations. For the U.S. Coast Guard, that presents a problem. Coastal Explorer is a recreational boating platform, rather than a tool for commercial marine
operators. The Coast Guard recognizes Rose Point's other platform, ECS, a commercial grade electronic charting and navigation software, as an acceptable companion to or replacement for paper charts.

And while Sluka estimates about 80 percent of the inland towboat fleet in the United States is using Rose Point ECS, that leaves an estimated 1,000 vessels that are likely using Coastal Explorer for their electronic charting needs.

"For the other 20 percent, we believe they're still operating on paper or are using Coastal Explorer," Sluka said. Sluka pointed to Coast Guard Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 01-16 that states "official" electronic charts "can provide the mariner with substantially more navigational information than a paper chart."

R. David Lewald, navigation systems program analyst for the Coast Guard's Navigation Information Management System (USAIMS) and program manager of the Office of Navigation Systems, confirmed that Coastal Explorer does not qualify as an alternative to paper charts. "Rose Point has informed the U.S. Coast Guard that their Coastal Explorer does not meet the carriage requirements as set forth in our NVIC 01-16 chapter 2 and has not provided a 'Declaration of Conformity' for this product," Lewald said. "Therefore, the U.S. Coast Guard will not accept Coastal Explorer as an ECS to meet carriage requirements.

"Additionally," Lewald added, "and in recognition of misunderstanding among some of our inspectors related to this issue, a guidance letter was issued to OCMIs to clarify."

According to Sluka, that memo to Officers in Charge, Marine Inspection, sent earlier this year, directs Coast Guard inspectors to issue a Code 60 deficiency, which must be corrected "prior to movement." Sluka said he's aware of at least eight companies that have encountered that issue during inspections, with some upgrading their entire fleet to Rose Point ECS at once and others upgrading as their boats come up for inspection.

Besides simply meeting Coast Guard regulatory requirements, Rose Point ECS has 55 features not included in Coastal Explorer, Sluka said, including a vessel data recorder. Rose Point ECS also includes a tow configurator feature, which transmits tow dimensions to other vessels in the vicinity.

"When you're trying to make the bend at Vicksburg, or if you're trying to determine if you can pass a certain boat, you can actually see what their makeup consists of," Sluka said. "There are just certain things about this program that make it commercial." After the initial licensing fee for

Rose Point ECS, operators pay a $500 subscription fee per vessel per year.

More information is available online.

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