This guide is for anyone preparing, completing or approving a passage plan on board, and it applies to every fleet.
Your form will not look like another vessel's. Each fleet has its own passage plan — different sections, different field names, different lengths (one is 22 fields, another is over 240). None of that changes how the plan works. Every passage plan in Sealogical follows the same lifecycle, uses the same buttons and obeys the same rules.
The lifecycle of a plan
A plan is always in exactly one state. The badge at the top tells you which:
- •In Progress — being filled in. This is the only state where the plan can be edited.
- •Completed — filled in and signed, waiting for approval. Locked — reopen it first to edit.
- •Approved — signed off. This is the plan you sail. Locked.
- •Not used — prepared but set aside. Kept as a record — reinstate it first to edit.
The colours on the voyage page follow one rule: blue means there is still something to do (a plan In Progress, or Completed and waiting for approval); green means no further action is needed (Approved). Not used shows grey.
Nothing is ever deleted. A plan you don't sail becomes Not used and stays on the record, with all its answers and signatures intact.
Starting a plan
Open the voyage, then Add Checklist. You will see up to three groups:
- •Checklists not yet started — the plans available for this voyage. Click one and it opens immediately.
- •Add another passage plan — for the next leg of the same voyage. This is the normal case: a voyage from Bergen to Ålesund might be sailed as six passages, anchor to anchor, each with its own plan and its own approval. You can name it (e.g. Skrova – Bussingvika) so the legs are easy to tell apart.
- •Start alternative plan — for a competing version of the same passage, such as two weather-routing options for one leg. Only one plan in an alternative set can end up Approved; the other is marked Not used. Before anything is created, the app names the plan the new one will compete with — if that is not the passage you meant, stop and use Add another passage plan instead.
Choosing between the last two matters. If it is the next passage, use Add another passage plan. Use Start alternative plan only when two plans describe the same passage and you will sail one of them. Both offer an optional label, so you never need to pick "alternative" just to name a leg.
Picked "alternative" by mistake? Open the plan — it shows an amber Marked as an alternative plan panel. Press This is its own passage and it becomes a normal standalone plan that approves on its own. Anyone who can edit the plan can do this.
Filling it in
- •Answers save automatically about half a second after you stop typing.
- •A red asterisk marks a required field. Everything else is optional.
- •The bar at the top shows how much of the plan is done; the chips below it show each section, turning green as it is finished.
- •Some fields fill themselves in from the voyage (vessel name, ports, dates) and are marked Auto-filled. You can overwrite them.
- •A field reading "Not yet available — enter manually or link a voyage" has no voyage data behind it yet. Type it in.
- •Where a plan has a table (reporting points, ports of refuge), use + Add for another row. There is a maximum; the form tells you when you reach it.
Attachments
Every plan has an Attachments section at the foot for supporting documents.
On the Inkfish passage plan only, the notes boxes (MRCC Information, General Notes, Notes, Additional Information / Navigational Warnings) each have their own small Attach link, for tide screenshots and similar. Other fleets attach everything in the section at the foot.
Signatures
Tap Sign as [your name] and your stored signature is applied. The first time, you draw it once and it is saved to your profile.
If someone else needs to sign on your device, use Someone else signing? — their signature is recorded as witnessed by you.
The Name, Rank and Date beside a signature fill in automatically and lock.
If the plan is changed after signing, an amber banner appears: Revised after signing — re-acknowledgement required. Each flagged signatory must remove their signature and sign again. This only triggers on a genuine change to an answer that already had a value — filling in a blank field, or saving the same value again, does not invalidate anything. Editing a note never invalidates a signature.
Completing
Press Complete Checklist. If anything required is missing you get a red panel listing exactly what:
- •"[Field]" in "[Section]" is required
- •"[Field]" in "[Section]" must be signed
- •"[Field]" was signed before the latest revision — remove and re-sign
The panel updates as you fix them. A tick box counts as answered only when it is ticked — an unticked box still blocks completion.
Once completed, the plan locks and the approver is notified.
Approving
Anyone with Vessel read & write access can approve. There is no separate approver role.
You may approve a plan you completed yourself. This is deliberate: no maritime regulation requires a different person, and on a small crew the person who prepared the plan is often the only one qualified to approve it. Every approval records who approved it and when.
Open the completed plan, add optional approval notes, press Approve Checklist. (Inkfish plans have no separate approve step — see What differs between fleets.)
If another plan is already approved
You only ever see this for alternative plans — competing versions of the same passage. Separate legs of a voyage never block each other, and repeat runs of a routine checklist never block each other.
- •One plan is blocking — you are asked "Replace the approved plan for this passage?". Choosing Replace and approve approves yours and marks the other Not used, keeping it on record.
- •Several are blocking — the app will not swap them for you. Open the ones that weren't sailed, mark them Not used, then approve.
Changing something after the fact
- •Reopen for editing — unlocks a Completed plan so it can be edited again. Form admin only.
- •Mark as not used — sets aside any plan, keeping it on record. Anyone who can edit the plan can do this. It is also how you undo an approval: mark the approved plan as not used.
- •Reinstate — brings back a Not used plan. Form admin only. A reinstated plan loses its approval and must be completed and approved again.
- •Deleting — only possible while a plan is In Progress. Once completed, approved or set aside, it is a record and cannot be removed.
Form admin means a superadmin, the account owner, or crew with Safety read & write. Note this is Safety access even though a passage plan sits under Vessel — so a bridge team with Vessel write but no Safety write can prepare, complete and approve plans, but cannot reopen or reinstate one.
What differs between fleets
Everything above is identical everywhere. These are the only differences:
- •The form itself — sections, field names and length vary by fleet.
- •Which plans you see — fleets use their own plans; unused standard ones are hidden. Some are restricted by vessel tonnage.
- •Names on screen — TWW vessels see their own code (AFY3, LUNA…) in place of the fleet-wide name.
- •Per-field attachments — Inkfish passage plan only.
- •Inkfish: no separate approve step — an Inkfish passage plan approves itself the moment it is completed carrying the Master's signature (the button reads Complete & approve). If another version of the same passage is already approved, the plan completes normally and offers Set as the active plan instead, so two versions are never approved at once.
- •Multi-leg and alternatives — offered on planning and pre-departure plans. Which of your plans qualify depends on your fleet's setup.
Wright Maritime Voyage Plans
Wright Maritime vessels have two additional plans: Voyage Plan (Over 24 Hours) — SMS 10.3.1 — and Voyage Plan (Less than 24h) — SMS 10.3.2. These are normal checklists, started from Add Checklist like any other plan. The required fields are the four berth-to-berth particulars — Port of Departure, ETD, Port of Destination (or Arrival), ETA — plus the Plan Developed By and Captain signatures. They complete and approve exactly like every other plan, and everything in this guide applies to them.
Tips
- •Use Add another passage plan for the next leg, and Start alternative plan only for a competing version of the same passage
- •Label each leg (e.g. the route it covers) so multi-leg voyages stay easy to navigate
- •Fill blank fields freely after signing — only changing an answer that already had a value triggers re-acknowledgement
- •If anything on board doesn't match this guide, contact the office