Question 1

During your DP Advanced oral exam you are asked: while conducting a DP operation alongside a platform, you receive a "DP system degraded" alert indicating one of three reference systems has dropped out, but the remaining two are agreeing closely and the vessel position appears stable. What is the correct course of action?

Accepted Answer

Inform the OIM/client and bridge team of the degraded redundancy, assess whether the operation should continue, be paused, or whether the vessel should move to a safer position depending on the consequence of a further failure given the now-reduced redundancy, and investigate/restore the failed reference system as a priority A degraded DP system with reduced redundancy means the vessel is now more vulnerable to a position-keeping incident if a further fault occurs, even though current position-keeping appears unaffected with two systems agreeing — this is precisely the scenario where the FMEA and the vessel's operational risk assessment should be consulted to determine the acceptable level of operation. Communication with the client/OIM is essential because the consequence of a position excursion (e.g. proximity to a platform riser or wellhead) determines whether continuing on reduced redundancy is acceptable, and the priority remains restoring full redundancy as quickly as possible rather than either ignoring the degradation or overreacting with an unnecessary full abort.

Question 2

You're preparing a passage plan for a coastal leg in a yacht drawing 3.2m. At one point the chart shows a least depth of 3.8m at chart datum. What MUST you check before finalising this leg?

Accepted Answer

The tidal height at the time of transit to confirm sufficient under-keel clearance Charted depths are referenced to chart datum (often LAT), so you must add the predicted tidal height for your transit time to get the actual depth, then compare to your draft plus a safety margin to confirm UKC.

Question 3

During your watch the ECDIS gives a "safety contour crossing" alarm. What is the correct response?

Accepted Answer

Assess the situation against the planned route and charted depths, take action to maintain safe water, and inform the Master if there is any doubt A safety contour alarm indicates the vessel may be approaching water shallower than the set safety contour. It must be investigated against the route and charted information, with avoiding action taken and the Master informed as appropriate — never simply silenced.