• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

THE precise monitoring and proper surveillance of ship movement between the Sandheads, the mouth of the Hooghly river, and Haldia/ Kolkata docks will now become possible with the installation of the Stand Alone Vessel Traffic Management System along with Automatic Identification System at Sagar Island Pilot Station of Kolkata Port Trust. Built with the technology supplied by VisSim of Norway, in partnership with New Delhi-based LMS Technology, the system is estimated to cost Rs 6 crore.

"We will now be able to monitor ship movement not only in the Hooghly river and its estuary but also in the Bay of Bengal, right up to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Paradip and even Visakhapatnam ports", said Dr A. K. Chanda, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, inaugurating the new system at Sagar Island, on Saturday.

Under the new system it is easy to identify a vessel and pinpoint its location accurately, guide the river pilot on board through the navigable channel, avoid probable collision and organise shore service facilities more efficiently by collating different shore control points through computers to maximise efficiency and profitability.

It should be possible also to re-introduce the night navigation facilities in the river by installing virtual buoys in the vessels' monitors and thus to improve the average turnaround time of the vessels. Night navigation in the Hooghly has remained suspended for several decades now for various reasons.

The overall benefits, Dr Chanda felt, might even extend beyond port operations. The installation of the new system became critical to improve the safety of the vessels in view of the ISPS Code as recommended by the International Maritime Organisation.

Since the installation of the AIS system on board had been mandatory for all ships under the ISPS Code, it was imperative that the shore-based network too had a similar system for achieving compliance with the safety regulations. The wide variety of information to be collected under the system would be of great help to the Coast Guard and other agencies.

It should also be possible to achieve the better management of environment quality through interpretation of radar images of water films developed during oil spills/disposal by any film.

Kolkata Port Trust was the first port trust in the country to install VTMS in three locations — Sagar Island, Haldia and Frasergunge — as early as 1996. "The old system, still in force, will now supplement the operations of the new system", Dr Chanda said.

Our Kolkata Bureau

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
IA cargo automation — Helping air-freight move smoother

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line