Vessel Traffic Management Information News

Saab has received an order from the China Maritime Safety Administration to renew and extend the Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) in Shanghai, improving the safety and efficiency of shipping in the world's largest container portThe project will take 18 months to complete, and includes the replacement of most of the existing radar and communications systems, two traffic centres and the delivery of a new supervisory centre."Saab's expertise in upgrading complex existing systems with minimal operational disturbance was a key consideration for the China Maritime Safety Adminstration. With a daily import and export of 3 billion dollars' worth of goods…

As one of the wonders of the natural world, many consider the Great Barrier Reef one of the Earth’s most beautiful places. The marine environment in the area is extremely sensitive and with around 4000 commercial vessels passing every year, it is important for the vessel services operators working onshore to keep track of the traffic at all times. That’s where Saab comes in. Comprising nearly 3000 individual reefs and almost 100 islands, the Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system. Located off the coast of Queensland, Australia it can be seen from space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms. It also requires protection. To help, Saab will contribute through a Vessel Traffic Management Information System, or VTMIS for short.

An algorithm has been developed to schedule transit vessel traffic in two-way waterways where safe distances between transiting vessels must be maintained and passage restrictions may hold. It limits the negative effects of the safety constrains on cargo volume throughput by finding schedules which increase the utilization of these waterways. The potential of this algorithm has been demonstrated on a plausible model of the Strait of Istanbul, and also the Suez Canal has been identified as a waterway where the algorithm could increase the volume of goods transported.

Transas Marine has signed contracts with the Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company (BPI Co) for the implementation of two significant Vessel Traffic System projects in Bulgaria. The first project involves completion of the second phase of the Bulgarian River Information Services project (BulRISII). Under this contract Transas will supply and install a Vessel Traffic Management Information System compliant with all European standards and technical requirements for the River Information Services.

BMT Group, the international maritime design, engineering and risk management consultancy, is pleased to announce that the SafePort research project has completed initial sea trials of a prototype vessel management system at Dublin port. SafePort offers the first advanced vessel traffic management system designed for constrained ports, or waterways with high traffic densities, with integrated portable pilot unit. SafePort delivers accurate, secure and reliable navigation and positioning information which in turn enables for safer and more efficient navigation and berthing.

Lockheed Martin will provide an extension to the Greek National Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) under a $1 million sub-contract from the Hellenic Telecommunications & Electronics industry, INTRACOM. The extension will support the country’s port security infrastructure for the 2004 Olympic Games. The Games are expected to bring 16,000 athletes and more than four million spectators to Greece. Numerous spectators are expected to move daily through the ferry ports of Rafina and Lavrio, located on the east coast of the Greek peninsula, which will be equipped with new regional Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) monitoring centers. Lockheed Martin will provide two radar systems to help monitor the waterway during the Olympic Games.

Intracom has signed a contract worth $8 million with Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems-Radar Systems (NE&SS-Radar Systems) for the supply to the Hellenic Merchant Marine Ministry of the first phase of a National Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS). NE&SS-Radar Systems is the major subcontractor of the project led by INTRACOM. The VTMIS will be based in Piraeus and will cover areas of the Ionian and Aegean Sea. INTRACOM, as the project's prime contractor, has the responsibility of providing the telecommunication and computing hardware, as well as installing the necessary VTMIS technology equipment supplied by Lockheed Martin.

Litton Marine Systems has launched a new IMO-compliant vessel traffic system (VTS) for locks, bridges, ports and coastal waters. The company's new VTS-Master-W is a new system utilizing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and proprietary software running under Windows-98/NT. It is based on Litton's unique VTS-Master technology, which permits real-time remote display of raw video data from shore-based surveillance radars superimposed on geographical maps of the area. The modular VTS-Master-W system is of a flexible design and can be expanded from a basic low-cost radar-based traffic observation system into a comprehensive vessel traffic management information system (VTMIS) with multiple radar transceivers and monitoring stations networked via fiber optic cables…

Istanbul and Canakkale Straits. The original contract, signed in October 1999, was worth more than $20 million. The contract extension allows Lockheed Martin to install three more remote radar sites on the Marmara Sea to supplement the two Vessel Traffic Centers (VTCs) and 16 remote sensor sites along the straits in Turkey. This contract extension represents the last phase of the contract. Installation of the additional radar sites is scheduled for the middle of next year. The Marmara Sea connects the Black Sea to the east with the Aegean Sea to the west, which is part of the Mediterranean Sea. Istanbul is located at the entrance of the Bosphorus.