Voyage Data Recorders (VDR)

Voyage Data Recorders (VDR) are devices that gather, process and record sensor data from ships to provide valuable insight after an incident. They are essentially maritime black boxes designed to help identify the cause of marine accidents and assist in their prevention.

VDRs and SVDRs must be installed on all vessels with a gross weight of 3,000 or more and built after July 1 2002. A VDR/SVDR is a storage medium that can stand up to pressures and shocks resulting from marine accidents like sinking, fire, collision or even sinking.

The system is designed to collect data from various sensors on a ship, digitizing and compressing it prior to storing it in a protective storage unit mounted externally. The tamperproof container is built to withstand the most severe heat, impact, and shock, as well as pressures that might be encountered in a marine incident, such a collision or a fire.

Members may want to upgrade their VDR/SVDR systems in order they can keep the data for a longer duration. Currently, IMO performance standards only require that the VDR/SVDR be kept in data for 12 hours after an incident.

A growing number of manufacturers offer a MantaDigital S-VDR, which can be interrogated from a distance, similar to the way airlines’ FDR data are analyzed following an incident. This allows for remote diagnosis of technical issues aboard and assists in implement proactive maintenance procedures. Regular shoreside playbacks help bridge teams in understanding patterns in their performance and identifying opportunities for improvement.

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