Arctic Shipping
Ice Navigators are required to be on board vessels when in Canadian Arctic waters under the circumstances outlined in the criteria in the Arctic Shipping Pollution Prevention Regulations. Ice Navigators must be on board all oil carrying tankers in the Shipping Safety Control Zones, all ships using the Arctic Ice Regime Shipping System Pictorial Guide - TP 14044, and all ships over 100 gross tons navigating outside the dates set out in the Zone/Date Entry Table. In any case, it is always recommended that experienced persons in ice navigation be on board all vessels operating in Arctic ice-covered waters.
Ice Navigators are currently assessed using the criteria in the Arctic Shipping Pollution Prevention Regulations. Personnel must have served on a ship as master or person in charge of the deck watch for 50 days or more. Thirty of those days must have been spent in Arctic waters where the ship required assistance from an icebreaker or had to make manoeuvres to avoid concentrations of ice.
[An ice navigation simulation platform has been developed to help train Ice Navigators. For further information on training of Ice Navigators, contact the Arctic Shipping section of the Domestic Vessel Regulatory Oversight.]
It is the Ice Navigator’s responsibility to determine the ice regimes and use them with the Ice Multipliers to determine whether the ship is capable of handling the planned route. The Arctic Ice Regime Shipping System Pictorial Guide - TP 14044 can be used by the Ice Navigator to help calculate Ice Numerals. It is the master’s responsibility to decide whether or not the ship enters the ice regime. Though cruise ships are not required to use Ice Navigators when navigating within the dates set out in the Zone/Date Entry Table, it is advised to do so for enhanced safety.