Sri Lanka Shipowners Warned about Y2K

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Sri Lanka Daily News -- Jan 2, 1999

 

>

>

> Guide on millennium bug risks to shipping

>

> Failure to act might lead to catastrophic consequences - warns classification

> society

>

> Lloyd's Register (LR) has warned shipowners and operators that they must

> accept the possibility of failures occurring as a result of the

> Year 2000 problem and that the consequences might be serious or even

> catastrophic.

>

> Shipowners and operators must therefore act now to assess the risk to their

> businesses posed by date processing electronic systems -

> which may be embedded systems and not therefore apparent from the exterior of

> the equipment - and plan preventative action.

>

> This blunt advice appears in LR's new guide to solving the problems

associated

> with ships and the Millennium Bug.

>

> It points out that: "The one thing that distinguishes this project from all

> others is the fact that the deadlines are truly immovable. It is

> obvious that you will need to set up the necessary project management

> organisation to organise the implementation."

>

> The guide, has two main aims:

>

> to outline the risks posed to shipping by the computer date problem, also

> known as the Millennium Bug or Year 2000 problem;

>

> to explain the process by which these risks can be identified assessed and

> managed.

>

> The guide explains that a number of district date problems are now

> collectively referred to as the Year 2000 problem or Millennium Bug

> and that failure to solve them could lead to critical malfunctions in

> shipboard and other systems. These problems are:

>

> 1. The two year digit problem

>

> Computers which depict the date in two digit format may not be able to

> recognise the year 2000 and succeeding years.

>

> 2. The leap year problem

>

> Computers whose integral clocks have not been programmed to treat 2000 as a

> leap year will not be able to recognise February 29, 2000.

>

> 3. The global positioning system (GPS) problem

>

> The GPS has a week number which indicates the number of weeks elapsed since

> the launch of the system. Some GPS receivers,

> depending on who manufactured them, may be unable to respond correctly to the

> completion of week 1023 (between the evening of

> August 21 and the morning of August 22, 1999) when the week number returns to

> 0.

>

> The guide points out that,in the light of these potential problems, the need

> for each shipowner and operator to develop a specific Year

> 2000 project is inescapable. The overall aim of such a project for each owner

> and operator is to avoid any incidents that might cause

> collision, loss of life, loss of vessel, pollution and legal and commercial

> penalties.

>

> The guide gives a framework for a Year 2000 project which must be directed

at:

>

> ensuring as far as possible, that all vital equipment and machinery will work

> in 1999, 2000 and beyond;

>

> ensuring as far as is cost effective, that all other equipment will work in

> 1999, 2000 and beyond;

>

> having contingency plans for failurer which can be anticipated and those

which

> are unexpected;

>

> having similar confidence and preparedness in respect of materials, supplies

> and services obtained outside the company.

>

> The guide gives some examples of Year 2000 problems already found in alarm

and

> monitoring systems. In one case, when the system

> rolled over into January 1,2000, the year '00' was displayed and was

> interpreted as an earlier year than '99'. This resulted in the simulated

> alarm being placed incorrectly in the display screens making it difficult to

> locate.

>

> In another case, a GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress Safety System), when

> tested, recognised February 29, 2000 but then went on and

> recognised February 29, 2001, 2002 and so on.