AIS Ship Destination info

[SoundSaltie]

Thanks for the info - I can only guess that some system out there has the exact ETA/ETD info in it, and for a variety of reasons I'm sure its better the public doesnt know. It just struck me as a little strange to see it with such regularity.

[oldseadog]

As far as the competition or competitors knowing where the other boat is going, don't most or all shipping companies have INNAV? that I assume, gives the final destination, all vessels entering the Seaway at CIP 2 are asked by the duty operator what the final destination is for the vessel via VHF, there are times when a vessel will give a POD but will change enroute, the vessel in question will then report to the Seaway the change in orders. The destination that are erroneous on the AIS card, is the fact the OW or the Captain did not bother to change the destination, like you reported, indicating destinations are not mandatory at this time.

[hausen]

Keeping the AIS's destination/ETA reading up to date is either not yet mandatory or if it is such rules aren't really yet enforced. I'm sure somewhere in some bit of regulation it might say some or all vessels are to keep the AIS as up to date as possible at all times but in my experience it's been up to the mates and/or captain to decide what that exactly means. For a vessel on a regularly scheduled weekly round trip up and down a river, for instance, it ended up being useful just to enter data for the furthest upstream and downstream points on the voyage instead of entering the ETA for each of the numerous ports/stops made by the vessel each week. On another coastal vessel with a very flexible and dynamic schedule it was essentially pointless to even bother with trying to keep updating that bit of information beyond entering in the one port every 7-10 days we knew we'd be visiting, and even then the exact ETA was sometimes an unknown factor until we were almost there.

As for lake or ocean vessels w/ respect to boatwatching; in some rare cases a lack of updates might be sheer forgetfulness, in some cases it might be that a vessel has yet to receive orders as to her next destination, or in some cases I'd imagine it might be advantageous for a vessel not to display destination and ETA too precisely in the interest of keeping private/company info. out of the hands of competitors.

For a vessel crew the safety/navigation benefits of AIS have a lot more to do with the vessel particulars and real time data about course, speed, heading, bearing, etc. than an estimated destination/ETA. After working in a given region/area for a while, any bridge personnel/watchstander will start to get a feel for what AIS destination/ETA data is decently up to date and what should be totally disregarded. Even in the best case any watchstander will understand and sympathize with fellow colleagues on another vessel regarding the fact that one of the only sureties in running a vessel is that destinations/ETAs can change at any time for a multitude of reasons.

[SoundSaltie]

Question for those currently aboard or who have served aboard lakers -Seems like half to 3/4 of the time I check a ships destination on the AIS system, the POD is usually the last port of call and not the next. Why?