This paper looks at the cost of navigation and endeavours to establish a relationship, of the type studied by Professor H. Benford, between manning and its associated cost in British shipping. Certain assumptions are made concerning the capital investment and operating costs for navigation equipment and from these the progressive savings are estimated for minimum manning and an unmanned bridge. Captain McKenzie is Managing Director of Marine and General Computer Consultancy (I.O.M.) Ltd.

After some considerable investigation into the costs of marine equipment and accommodation it has been found that there is the greatest difficulty in establishing a base cost on which to examine possible reductions. Equipment, salaries, accommodation and fringe benefits vary so much from company to company and ship to ship that any comparison is meaningless. Thus we must consider some hypothetical ‘standard ship’ and define fairly closely what equipment is already on board and the average salary for staff or crew members. It seems reasonable to look at a modern ship equipped with all the devices which an up-to-date shipowner considers necessary for her operation and—more important—her safety.