A modern approach to ensuring the safe navigation of foreign ships on the inland waterways of the Russian Federation

Navigation on inland waterways, such as rivers and canals, is performed under conditions of a minimum under the keel clearance, hydrodynamic interaction between the ship’s hull and underwater limits of the fairway, and the impact of irregular currents. Piloting a ship in complicated conditions requires the navigator to quickly assess the situation and develop optimal solutions for ship handling, continuously monitor the ship’s motion, have sufficient navigational experience and a large amount of practical knowledge. Pilotage of vessels via routes on reservoirs and fairways on lakes requires additional consideration of wind and wave effects, as well as the use of technical means of navigation to control the vessel position and motion. The organization of navigation at a high level of safety is possible with the correct consideration of the whole range of factors, such as navigational and hydrographic, hydrometeorological, organizational and technical, the combined influence of which is significant. This seems to be possible only when ship handling is performed by highly qualified navigators who have navigational experience in the relevant navigation area. To achieve a high level of qualification, the training of navigators is carried out in several ways at once-general and particular pilotage, organization of navigation safety and the theoretical foundations of ship handling. Lack of theoretical or practical knowledge can be considered as factor limiting passage of vessel and navigational safety.