Marine insurance specialist, The Swedish Club, today announced the launch of its Passage Plan+ Guide, an essential resource designed to support shipowners, operators, and navigational officers.

Voyage/Passage planning is something that must be carried out for every vessel before departure. Every company has its own procedures and there are many guides defining how it should be handled.

“As an insurance company, we handle many claims every year and issues regarding Voyage/Passage planning are a recurring theme”, said Joakim Enström, Senior Loss Prevention Officer, The Swedish Club.

“This is something every bridge officer should be familiar with, but the quality of planning can differ greatly from officer to officer. As such we wanted to launch the Passage Plan+ Guide to enhance our members’ existing plans.”

The Passage Plan+ Guide includes several suggestions to provide a more resilient Voyage/Passage Plan including:

• Port cards: Used for port-specific information about each vessel
• Voyage/Passage planning in confined waters
• Route, manoeuvring, mooring and towing plans
• Sharing pilotage plans before the pilot boards
• Bridge team set-up including officer monitoring
• Communication
• Due diligence

A robust and efficient Voyage/Passage Plan can help the bridge team detect anomalies, errors, and faults that could otherwise lead to grounding, contact, or collision. Whilst no system is perfect, a prepared bridge team is better at detecting an issue before it is too late. A flexible system allows all bridge team members to contribute and analyse new information that will have an impact on the vessel’s safety.

The Swedish Club is keen to point out that it’s not about having the most requirements and the longest checklist, but more about being able to adapt to the constantly changing situations and information that occur during a vessel’s voyage.