Final Regulatory Impact Assessment - Merchant Shipping (Beacons: AIS) Order 2006

Excerpt: Courtesy Department for Transport (UK)

1. Title of Proposal

The Merchant Shipping (Beacons: Automatic Identification Systems) Order 2006

2. Purpose and Intended Effect

Objective

To permit the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) to operate Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) for the benefit of marine navigation, whilst containing costs.

The establishment of AIS as a beacon, a marine aid to navigation, within the meaning of Section 223 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. This order will provide a power for the Secretary of State for Transport to sanction expenditure from the General Lighthouse Fund to fund AIS technology as a marine aid to navigation.

Background

Under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 the three General Lighthouse Authorities are responsible for the provision of marine aids to navigation. The Authorities are identified in section 193:

· The Corporation of Trinity House for England, Wales and the Channel Islands

· The Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses for Scotland and the Isle of Man

· Commissioners of Irish Lights for Northern Ireland. This body is an all Ireland body and provides similar services in Ireland.

Full detail can be viewed on website: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_shipping/documents/page/dft_shipping_612509.hcsp

International Association of Maritime Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) Strategy 2006 – 2010

AIS plays an important role in the IALA Strategy 2006 – 2010

(excerpt IALA Strategy 2006 – 2010 – courtesy IALA -

http://site.ialathree.org/pages/accueil/IALA%20strategy%202006-2010.pdf)

e) Develop guidelines and recommendations including, but not limited to:

i. Management of AIS as an AtoN, especially on how to employ shore based AIS networks to broadcast AtoN information

ii. Management of sensor fusion in the VTS environment and how to integrate information from different sensors and systems in general

v. Calculation and measurement of AtoN performance to define product quality as important information for outsourcing projects

vi. Presentation of AIS AtoN information in coordination with IHO

vii Guidelines on AIS as a VTS tool

ix. Guidelines on the provision of AIS as an AtoN and how to capitalise on the added values it can provide, e.g. meteorological services, quality assurance of data provided

x. Relationships between AtoN, VTS and monitoring, pilotage, routeing, channel features and its application to the ships using these services

xi .Implementation of systems such as e-ANSI, e-NAV, and AIS as an AtoN, so that the existing AtoN in the area and their operational state will be known by the mariner in the quickest and most efficient way, integrating traditional aids and new technologies as elements of the same system.

AIS IN THE LIMELIGHT

Excerpt - USA: NATIONAL GMDSS IMPLEMENTATION TASK FORCE - Newsletter and Summary Record of 11 May 2006 Meeting

3. The Coast Guard Reports:

a. Decisions of COMSAR 10. Russ Levin and others outlined the major results of the COMSAR 10 meeting in February, 2006, COMSAR 11 will meet in London 19-23 February 2007. Highlights of the COMSAR 10 Conference are as follows:

1). The Search and Rescue Transponder (SART) and EPIRB specifications were reviewed and a Japanese paper recommending Circular Polarization was approved. The U.S. paper recommending that Class B AIS be deemed equivalent to a SART was approved and these changes should be finalized when approved by the parent Maritime Safety Committee (MSC).

d. Current Status of Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). Jorge Arroyo provided an update on AIS developments including the following highlights:

(1) The Federal Government Unified Regulatory Agenda published 24 April 2006 in the Federal Register announced plans for a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) vice an Interim Rule to expand AIS carriage requirements beyond VTS areas. The NPRM would extend AIS carriage to self propelled vessels of 65 feet and above, tugs of 26 feet and above with 600 horsepower, fishing vessels, dredges, vessels carrying hazardous cargos, high speed passenger vessels and those carrying more than 50 passengers, and any other commercial

vessels 65 feet or more - about 17,000 vessels altogether. Release of the NPRM is expected in October 2006.

(2) Class B AIS will be authorized for these smaller vessels but FCC Type Approval is required for the Class B AIS equipments. The IEC approved the specification for Class B AIS on 20 March 2006.

(3) With respect to Electronic Chart Systems (ECS), The International Electro-technical Committee (IEC) should complete work on a proposed minimum standard soon. Congress has imposed a deadline of 1 January 2007 for the Coast Guard to define requirements for electronic chart systems, and assumes that they will also call for display of AIS information. See also paragraph 9.b. below on the new E-Navigation initiative.

(4) Captain Ed Thiedeman indicated that the Coast Guard expects to have a receive only AIS coastal monitoring system within 2-3 years.

(5) Mexico has published a NPRM that would require recreational vessels over 30 feet in length to carry AIS equipment and an annual fee of $30.00 for participation.

e. IMO Initiative for Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT). Bob Markle, as Chairman of the LRIT Working Group at COMSAR, summarized progress on this project at the meeting. Most technical issues were resolved as follows:

(1) The distance offshore to which Coastal States were entitled to receive tracking data was not resolved by COMSAR which had proposals ranging from 200 to 2000 miles. The parent Maritime Safety Committee which met later in May, settled this policy issue at 1000 miles.

(2) There was agreement that ships sailing in Sea Area A1 could rely solely on AIS equipment. This would apply whether or not the coastal state had implemented Sea Area A1 (not likely in the U.S. before 2011).

(3) There appears to be agreement that ships sailing farther offshore could use any tracking system which complied with the technical parameters. In this respect the carriage

www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/taskforc/TFSR-47.pdf

IMO Liaison statement to ITU-R:

Working Party 8B - AIS Search and Rescue Transmitter (AIS-SART) [ 410 ] 2006-03-14

Working Party 9B - Recommendation ITU-R M.1371-1: Satellite detection of AIS messages [ 408 ] 2006-03-14

http://www.itu.int/md/meetingdoc.asp?lang=en&parent=R03-WP8B-C&PageLB=50

Excerpt - China: Digital Lighthouses Guide Vessels Away from Chanchu

China's new digital lighthouse system passed its first major test with tropical storm Chanchu last week and guided vessels in Chinese waters to safety.

Chanchu, the first tropical storm of the year in the South China Sea, sank at least 10 vessels off Vietnam and left dozens of seamen dead or missing.

No casualties were reported in Chinese waters primarily due to the automatic identification system (AIS) adopted by China's Maritime Safety Administration (MSA), Liu Gongchen, MSA executive director-general, said Monday.

He told the ongoing 16th Conference of the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) that the AIS had given advance warning to vessels in the path of Chanchu.

http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/May/169186.htm

Excerpt - AIS Spy - 17 April 2006

The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration has fined a dozen foreign chemical cargo vessels for illegally dumping chemical wastes into the mouth of the Yangtze River since 2005.

In its report released last weekend, the administration said the number of fined ships exceeded the total of similar cases during the previous five years when only three ships were caught for the same infraction.

Maritime officials credited the adoption in 2005 of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) with this increased success, as they claimed this technological advance allows the authorities to follow the track of any ship once it enters local waterways.

http://www.shiptalk.com/index.asp?ItemID=475&pcid=141&cid=161&archive=yes

UK Government Strategy on making best use of Automatic Identification System

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_shipping/documents/page/dft_shipping_611408.hcsp

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_shipping/documents/page/dft_shipping_611410.hcsp

Publication of AIS Class B"CS" test performance standard - IEC62287-1

AIS Class B/CS (CSTDMA) - IEC62287-1 Ed. 1.0 Status: Maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment and systems - Class B shipborne equipment of the automatic identification system (AIS) - Part 1: Carrier-sense time division multiple access (CSTDMA) techniques

Excerpt: http://www.imo.org/About/mainframe.asp?topic_id=271&doc_id=6276

IMO Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue (COMSAR), 10th session: 6-10 March 2006

SART - revised performance standards endorsed

The Sub-Committee endorsed proposed draft amendments to the performance standards for Search and Rescue Transponder (SART) (currently resolution A.802(19))

The Sub-Committee also endorsed preliminary draft performance standards for survival craft AIS Search and Rescue Transmitter (AIS-SART) to supplement the existing SART performance standards. The AIS-SART would use AIS technology.

The Sub Committee also endorsed draft proposed amendments to regulations in SOLAS chapter III to reflect the development of new AIS-SART performance standards.

The Sub Committee noted that it was important to ensure that the definitions of AIS Search and Rescue Transmitter (AIS-SART) and Search and Rescue (radar) Transponder (SART) were clear, so as to avoid confusing two distinct technologies.

Since inception, AIS has been a topic of great interest and discussion. This is evident taking into account the large number of articles and publications, all discussing and debating AIS and its use. AIS interest also extends to internet websites and forums, conferences, seminars, exhibitions, etc.

AIS vs. Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT)

Many articles addressing LRIT requirements and systems also referred to AIS. However, one should not forget the actual AIS performance requirement as defined in IMO Resolution MSC.74(69) Annex 3:

"The AIS should improve the safety of navigation by assisting in the efficient navigation of ships, protection of the environment, and operation of Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), by satisfying the following functional requirements:

.1 in a ship-to-ship mode for collision avoidance;
.2 as a means for littoral States to obtain information about a ship and its cargo; and
.3 as a VTS tool, i.e. ship-to-shore (traffic management)."

AIS is a VHF broadcast system, it’s operation limited to line-of-sight. It provides continuous positional message updates, up to once every 2 seconds maximum (Class A), which could improve the safety of navigation. In general, other than for radio licenses, fees are not charged for the use of AIS.

AIS Class B, an anti-collision device?

Comments and concerns have been raised in respect of Class B being used as an anti-collision device, considering that there could be hundreds even thousands of vessels being displayed at a time.

Good weather conditions and visibility permitting, a skipper or master will most likely rely on visual observation. However, when visibility is restricted other means of observation is required, Radar and AIS.

Implementing intelligent filtering can reduce cluttering of the display. Only vessels that could impact on the safety of navigation (own vessel) could be displayed. Parameters such as range, bearing, CPA and tCPA, type of AIS viz. only Class A could be used for this purpose. The implementation thereof should be left to the respective authorities and manufacturers.

AIS vs. Radar (legacy)

An early topic of discussion on AIS was that it could or was going to replace Radar some time in future! To the contrary now, it can be seen that AIS and Radar compliment one another. Many Radar displays interface with AIS, fusing Radar and AIS targets.