Containers and forward looking echo sounders

[Guest]

The article in YM on lost containers is a little worrying. I don't fancy an encounter with one of them. I haven't ever used a forward looking echo sounder, but just wondered if it would be able to detect a floating container somedistance ahead. If so, it would presumably be a very valuable precaution, particularly at night or in rough weather when one would have no chance of spotting a floating container in time.

 

[Guest]

A forward looking echo sounder sounds like the ideal solution. Unfortunately it is not. By the time it gives you a reliable echo, you are already on top of it. It is possible that, in relatively calm, light air situations, you might get sufficient warning to take avoiding action, but then, in these conditions there is a reasonable chance you will see the thing visually anyway.

An FLS is designed to read the seabed a modest distance ahead to give warningof shoal water, and the beam is therefore angled down slightly. Since it starts from a point some two or three feet below the surface, it quickly dips below the bottom of most floating obstructions. Also, they are in the boundary zone where there is a lot of clutter from waves which will obscure returns.

The makers themselves don't recommend them for this purpose.