Voyage Data Recorders (VDR) are devices that collect, process and record sensor inputs from ships to provide valuable information following an incident. They are essentially black boxes for the maritime industry, designed to identify the cause of marine accident and contribute to prevention.

VDRs and S-VDRs can be fitted to all ships with three tons gross or more constructed on or after July 1, 2002. A VDR/SVDR is a electronic storage medium that is tamperproof that is enclosed in a capsule that is capable of withstanding the pressures and shocks that come with a marine incident such as fire, collision or sinking.

The system is designed to collect information from a variety of sensors onboard a ship as well as compressing and digitizing it prior to storing it in a protective database access control best practices storage unit mounted externally. The tamperproof container is designed to withstand extreme heat, shock, and impact as well as pressures that can be encountered in a marine accident, for example, a collision or a fire.

Members may wish to upgrade their VDR/SVDR system so that they can retain the data for a longer duration. At present, IMO performance standards only require that VDR/SVDRs keep data for 12 hours following an incident.

A growing number of manufacturers provide a MantaDigital S-VDR which can be accessed from a distance similar to how 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 replays enable bridge teams to identify patterns in their performance and identify improvement opportunities.