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Port management Systems
VTS
Australian Maritime Systems (AMS) is the number one choice when it comes to Vessel Traffic Systems. We have the knowledge to help your port develop, install and manage a system that is suited to your requirements. AMS is at the forefront of industry technologies - we ensure the systems we install are user friendly, and of the highest quality. Australian Maritime Systems can guide you through the process of making your port a safe passage for shipping operations.
AMS can provide a fully integrated vessel traffic system that incorporates any number of the following technologies.
- Radar
- AIS
- VHF
- HF
- CCTV
- Wireless
- Weather Station
- Voice Recorders
What is VTS
A Vessel Traffic Service
(VTS) is a marine traffic monitoring system established by harbor or port authorities, similar to air traffic control for aircraft. Typical VTS systems use radar, closed-circuit television, VHF radiotelephony and AIS to keep track of vessel movements and provide navigational safety in a limited geographical area.
Information service
Providing information to vessels, that in principle can be checked by the vessels involved; this means that at this stage the operator is not providing an advice. However, in the day to day practice of a VTS, information that is properly given is often suggesting a specific course of action by the sequence of the information provided.
Navigational Assistance Service
A service provided to an individual vessel giving at its request or when deemed necessary by the VTS to assist directly the decision making process on board the vessel concerned. This service consists of information relating to a specific vessel and may include warnings and advice, as long as it is not the intent to direct the course to be steered or engine orders to be executed. In providing Navigation Assistance, the VTS participates in the onboard decision making process by giving: information on a vessel’s course and speed made good; information on its position relative to fairway axis or waypoints, information on the vessel’s position or identity and intentions of the surrounding traffic. This service is not intended to advice courses to be steered or engine maneuvers to be executed.
Traffic Organization
Traffic Organization is a service to prevent the development of dangerous situations and to provide for the safe and efficient movement of traffic within the VTS area. It concerns the forward planning of movements and management of space and is particularly relevant in times of congestion or when the movement of special transports may affect the flow of the traffic. Monitoring traffic, enforcing adherence to governing rules and regulations, and communicating existing conditions to VTS-participants and sometimes allied services, are essential elements of traffic organization.
Traffic Organization may include establishing and operating a system of traffic clearances in relation to the priority of movements, the allocation of space, mandatory reporting of movements, established routes to be followed, speed limits to be observed or other appropriate measures considered necessary by the VTS authority. Where the VTS is authorized to issue traffic organization-related instructions to vessels, the instructions should be results oriented, this means that the details of execution are left to the vessel. The successful operation of a traffic organization regime requires transparent rules, efficient communication and positive identification of all vessels.
A very important item is the acceptance of a VTS by the shipmaster and officers. A VTS operator should never consider himself to be conducting / piloting the vessel; that is the task of the master. However if his education is at least at the same level of the master then a situation of mutual trust is easily established.
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