An officer joins a ship holding a valid ECDIS certificate, sits down at the console on the first night, and finds that nothing is where the training centre put it. The safety-contour setting is buried in an unfamiliar menu, the alarms acknowledge differently, the route check runs through screens nobody walked them through. On paper, fully qualified. In practice, not yet fit to take the watch. That gap — between knowing ECDIS and knowing this ECDIS — is the entire reason the training comes in two distinct parts, and confusing the two is one of the most common ways officers and companies come unstuck at an inspection.
Understanding the difference is not box-ticking. It decides whether your certificate of competency carries a limitation, whether a port state control officer is satisfied, and whether a vetting inspector writes you up. Both halves are built on the foundations covered in the main Electronic Chart Display and Information System guide; this article is about how you become qualified to use one.
Two Certificates, Two Different Jobs
The cleanest way to hold the distinction in your head is this: generic training teaches you ECDIS as a concept, and type-specific training teaches you the particular machine bolted to the bridge. The first is portable knowledge you carry from ship to ship. The second is fresh every time you join a vessel with a different make or model.
Generic training answers questions that are true of any ECDIS: what a safety contour does, why a route check matters, how the system can mislead you if a sensor drifts. Type-specific training answers questions that are true only of the box in front of you: which menu holds that safety contour, how this manufacturer lays out the alarm page, what this model calls its look-ahead function. You need both because neither is sufficient alone — a deep understanding of ECDIS in the abstract will not stop you fumbling through an unfamiliar interface during a close-quarters situation at three in the morning.
Generic ECDIS Training: The Portable Qualification
Generic ECDIS training is the formal, certificated course almost every deck officer now holds. It is built on IMO Model Course 1.27, the syllabus the IMO published to define what competent ECDIS use actually means, and it is a requirement of the STCW Convention as amended by the 2010 Manila amendments. Since 1 January 2017, masters and officers in charge of a navigational watch serving on ECDIS-fitted ships have needed it, with the relevant competences written into STCW Code tables A-II/1 and A-II/2.
In practice this is typically a five-day, simulator-based course of around 40 hours, with assessment built in — industry guidance is explicit that a generic course of materially less than 40 hours with robust evaluation will not meet the STCW standard, so the short “certificate mill” courses that occasionally appear are best avoided. The content runs through system principles, chart data and updating, passage planning, safety settings, route monitoring, and the limitations and failure modes that cause most ECDIS incidents. The detail of that syllabus is covered in IMO Model Course 1.27 Explained.
The consequence of skipping it is concrete. An officer who has not completed approved generic ECDIS training carries an ECDIS limitation on their certificate of competency, restricting them from serving on ECDIS-equipped vessels. The corollary is useful to know: a CoC issued after 1 January 2017 without an ECDIS limitation is itself the evidence that the generic requirement has been met — there is no separate certificate to chase.
Type-Specific Training: Knowing the Box on Board
Type-specific training — also called ship-specific or familiarisation training — is the other half, and it works on a completely different legal basis. Where generic training is an STCW competence the officer carries, type-specific training is the company’s responsibility, sitting under the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, specifically sections 6.3 and 6.5, reinforced by STCW Regulation I/14. The company must ensure that anyone joining a new assignment is properly familiarised with the equipment they will rely on, and ECDIS is squarely within that duty.
Because it is about a specific make and model, this training is delivered by the ECDIS manufacturer or an authorised representative, increasingly as computer-based training the company holds on file. It must relate to the actual equipment fitted — a Furuno familiarisation does nothing for an officer joining a ship running JRC or a Transas-derived system, which is why the manufacturer-by-manufacturer landscape is mapped separately in ECDIS Type-Specific Training by Manufacturer. The timing requirement is the part that matters operationally: familiarisation must be completed before the officer takes charge of a navigational watch, not caught up on later. There is a sensible exception worth knowing — where an officer’s generic course was delivered on the very same system fitted on board, some flag administrations accept that as covering the type-specific element too.
The Distinction That Trips People Up
Here is the nuance that catches out officers, crewing departments, and the occasional trainer: STCW itself requires only generic ECDIS training. This was put beyond doubt by IMO circular STCW.7/Circ.24/Rev.1. There is no STCW-mandated type-specific certificate; an officer with an unlimited post-2017 CoC has satisfied STCW without one.
That does not mean type-specific training is optional — it means it is required by a different instrument. The obligation lives in the ISM Code and the company’s safety management system rather than in the officer’s certificate. The practical effect is that two different parties are accountable: the officer for holding valid generic training, and the company for evidencing type-specific familiarisation in its SMS. An officer who treats type-specific training as someone else’s paperwork, and a company that assumes a generic certificate covers everything, are making the same mistake from opposite ends.
How It Is Actually Checked
The theory becomes real at the gangway. A port state control officer will look for evidence of generic training — the unlimited CoC, or the standalone certificate — and that usually settles the generic question quickly. The harder scrutiny falls on familiarisation, and it has tightened considerably through vetting regimes.
For tankers, OCIMF’s SIRE 2.0 inspection regime expects documented type-specific training for the system fitted, provided by the company to every master and deck officer before they take charge of a watch. The dry-bulk equivalent, RISQ, carries the same expectation. Neither is a statutory requirement in the way STCW is, but for a ship facing a vetting inspection the distinction is academic — a missing or incomplete familiarisation record is a finding either way. The classic failure is almost administrative: a familiarisation checklist that is absent, half-filled, or signed off with a date after the officer had already started keeping watches. That last one is the worst of the three, because it is not merely an ECDIS gap — it is documentary proof that the SMS procedure was not followed, which turns an equipment observation into an ISM finding.
What This Means When You Join a Ship
For the working officer, the takeaways are practical and worth making habit. Confirm what make and model of ECDIS the ship runs before or on joining, and do not assume your last ship’s familiarisation transfers — it almost never does. Complete the type-specific familiarisation and get the checklist properly signed and dated before your first independent watch, not afterwards. Keep your generic certificate accessible, and if your CoC predates 2017 or carries an ECDIS limitation, resolve it before you sail. None of this protects you from the deeper risk — an unfamiliar interface failing you when it matters — which is why the smart move on any new system is to spend your first quiet watch deliberately working through its safety settings and alarm handling rather than discovering them under pressure. The habits that prevent the common mistakes are gathered in Common ECDIS Errors and How to Avoid Them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between generic and type-specific ECDIS training? Generic ECDIS training teaches ECDIS as a class of equipment and is based on IMO Model Course 1.27, required under STCW. Type-specific (familiarisation) training covers the particular make and model fitted on a given ship and is required under the ISM Code as a company responsibility.
Is type-specific ECDIS training mandatory? Yes, but not under STCW. STCW requires only generic training. Type-specific familiarisation is required under the ISM Code (sections 6.3 and 6.5) and STCW Regulation I/14, and is enforced in practice through vetting regimes such as SIRE 2.0 and RISQ.
Do I need a separate certificate for type-specific training? There is no STCW-mandated type-specific certificate. What inspectors look for is documented familiarisation in the company’s safety management system — typically a completed checklist — signed off before you take charge of a watch.
How long is generic ECDIS training? Generic ECDIS training is typically a five-day, simulator-based course of around 40 hours including assessment. Courses materially shorter than this are generally not accepted as meeting the STCW standard.
What happens if I have not done generic ECDIS training? Your certificate of competency will carry an ECDIS limitation restricting you from serving on ECDIS-equipped ships. A post-2017 CoC without such a limitation is itself evidence that the generic requirement has been met.