Pay As You Sail (PAYS) ECDIS & AVCS: Licensing Economics, S-63 Security & Route Tracking

1. PAYS vs Fixed Pre-Paid Subscriptions: How Pay As You Sail Operates

In international commercial shipping, maintaining valid, updated Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) across primary and secondary type-approved ECDIS consoles is a mandatory condition under SOLAS Chapter V Regulation 19. Traditionally, shipping lines purchased fixed 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month pre-paid chart permits for entire geographic folios. For tramp trade bulkers, crude tankers, and spot charter vessels with unpredictable voyage destinations, fixed licensing resulted in immense budget waste—purchasing thousands of dollars in chart permits for waters the vessel never actually entered.

Pay As You Sail (PAYS) ECDIS revolutionizes maritime chart logistics. Under the PAYS model, the vessel carries the complete global library of official vector ENCs (over 17,000+ Admiralty AVCS cells) completely unlocked and ready for instant route planning on the bridge. The shipowner is only invoiced for individual chart cells that the vessel physically transits, as recorded by the shipboard tracking unit.

2. Admiralty Vector Chart Service (AVCS) & IHO S-63 Data Protection

The Admiralty Vector Chart Service (AVCS), curated by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO), provides the world’s most comprehensive official digital chart coverage conforming to IHO S-57 / S-101 standards. To protect intellectual property and guarantee anti-tamper authenticity against maritime cyber attacks, charts are packaged under IHO S-63 Data Protection Standard:

• User Permit Number (UPN): An encrypted 28-character hardware identifier derived from the physical ECDIS dongle or CPU ID.
• Manufacturer ID (M_ID): Validates that the specific ECDIS software make and model is type-approved.
• Cell Keys & Digital Signatures: Every individual ENC cell is encrypted with a unique session key. The ECDIS verifies the cryptographic signature; if a single byte has been altered by malware or unauthorized edit, the chart will fail authentication and refuse to display.

3. Automated GPS Track Reporting & Dynamic Chart Permit Ingestion

The technical engine driving PAYS is an onboard communication gateway (e.g., Admiralty e-Navigator, ChartCo / OneOcean, Navarino, Voyager):

The gateway samples the ship’s GNSS position at regular intervals. Whenever the vessel crosses the geographic boundary of an ENC cell, a compressed tracking packet is transmitted via the ship’s satellite link (VSAT or FleetBroadband) to the hydrographic office. A formal 3-month statutory navigation permit is instantaneously validated, locking the vessel into full legal compliance.

4. Port State Control (PSC) Verification: Admiralty Certificate of Inspection

A frequent anxiety among shipmasters transitioning to PAYS is satisfying Port State Control (PSC) and vetting inspectors (SIRE / RightShip). To prove compliance, the PAYS platform generates an official, digitally signed Admiralty Certificate of Inspection:

• Confirms that all chart cells along the intended passage plan are fully licensed for navigation.
• Displays the exact cumulative edition and update status of each ENC cell.
• Proves that the latest weekly Admiralty Notices to Mariners (NtM) have been downloaded and applied to both primary and backup ECDIS workstations.

5. Fleet OPEX Optimization: Tramp Shipping & Unplanned Route Diversions

For vessel operators, PAYS delivers profound operational and financial benefits:

6. Automated Weekly Notices to Mariners (NtM) via Satellite Broadband

Modern PAYS gateways operate via smart differential compression. Rather than downloading massive gigabyte chart base files, the gateway pulls micro-differential patch updates over satellite (averaging < 2 MB weekly), verifying checksums before staging updates onto secure USB media for dual ECDIS ingest.

7. Technical FAQs: PAYS ECDIS Chart Services