IENC partnering meeting brings together federal agencies, industry leaders

Published June 23, 2010

On Wednesday, May 5, an Inland Electronic Navigational Chart (IENC) partnering meeting was held in the Romano Mazzoli Federal Building. Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters, Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Army Geospatial Center and 15 Corps districts), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the U.S. Navy, towing industry professionals and electronic chart system manufacturers participated in the meeting. This relatively informal meeting allowed for an open exchange of ideas and a forum to provide comments and constructive criticisms about the IENCs and other relevant inland navigation issues.

Presentations were made by the Corps regarding Lock Operations Management Application (LOMA), currently under development by ERDC and the status of buoys on IENCs. Additionally, discussions regarding Coast Guard light list changes, river mile and sailing line locations and symbols on the charts also occured.

The Coast Guard made a presentation regarding the use of Corps hydrographic surveys in the placement of buoys, specifically the time savings that occurs when Corps surveys are provided. The USCG Bridge Department also provided a briefing regarding the policy and protocol used to construct, remove or modify a bridge crossing an inland waterway.

The meeting which was attended by approximately 60 people, was well received and proved to be a successful open exchange of topics and ideas relating to inland navigation. The goal of next year’s meeting (IENC Partnering III) is to have more participation from towing industry professionals.

 

IENC Background

The IENC program was developed in 2001 when Congress directed the Corps to develop and publish electronic navigation charts for the inland waterways. Pilot projects supporting the Mississippi River and tributaries began that year. Since then, 93 IENCs have been published for the following rivers: Allegheny, Arkansas, Atchafalaya, Black Warrior-Tombigbee, Cumberland, Green, Illinois, Kanawha, Lower Mississippi, Monongahela, Ohio, Red, Tennessee, Tennessee-Tombigbee and Upper Mississippi.

These large-scale, accurate and up-to-date IENCs enable electronic charting systems to provide precise and real-time display of vessel positions relative to waterway features, improve voyage planning and monitoring, aid in new personnel training tools and integrate displays of river charts, radar and automatic identification systems overlays.

Today, more than 5,700 miles of navigable rivers covering 15 Corps districts have been electronically charted. IENCs for the following rivers are available for free download and use from the Corps’ E-Charting web site at www.agc.army.mil/echarts. IENCs for the Alabama, Kaskaskia, Missouri, Ouachita rivers and Upper Tennessee tributaries are currently under development with completion scheduled in 2010.