Thank you Emani for sharing this video. I use to work at SPA from 2001 - 2006 as admin for the Port Master and his crew. Missed my SPA family RIL Tepatasi Risale, whom was like a father figure to us all. Captains Laban, Asotau & Tagaloa. Senior Pilot Lolesio, Pilots Herman, Tifaga & Iakopo. Engineers and the crews.
As I reviewed this video, I noticed that the audio is missing from the last couple of presentations so if I may, I would like to explain to the PMTA members who were unable to attend this year’s conference, what my presentation was about. CREST Queensland (based in Australia) is a group of volunteer radio monitors who primarily monitor publicly available emergency channels - including marine VHF and HF radio channels. In recent years, members of CREST Queensland began to develop a local AIS network that displays AIS equipped vessels on an overly within Google Earth. A major vessel tracking company heard about our local AIS network and began sponsoring CREST with AIS equipment to install in locations where there was an interest in tracking vessel movements. Since VesselTracker began this sponsorship, CREST has been involved in deploying over 150 land based AIS receivers which are now feeding AIS data to our local servers, and the data is shared with VesselTracker who provide the data to many of their high profile clients, including Lloyds of London (shipping insurance). AIS was developed in the 1990s as a vessel collision avoidance system . The system relies on a VHF transmitter which sends out messages to other AIS equipped vessels. These messages contain details such as, GPS coordinates, SOG, COC, Vessel Name, flag of registration. The information is used to predict a vessel’s position up to 30 minutes ahead and then compare this track with similar tracks being transmitted by surrounding vessels. Should 2 or more vessels be likely to occupy a similar position somewhere along their predicted tracks, the crew of each vessel will receive an audible warning advising them of the potential for a collision. Each vessel then has up to 30 minutes to take evasive action to avoid the collision. It is these same radio signals that our land based AIS network intercepts and rather than the data being used as a collision warning system, the data is collected and displayed on a computer screen which allows Port Management and Maritime Safety organisations to monitor AIS equipped vessel traffic in their area of operations. In the case of the AIS tracking system installed at the Port of Apia (Samoa) 5 weeks ago, Marine Pilots, tug operators and port management now have the ability to view, on a computer screen, in real-time, vessels approaching the Port of Apia up to 4 hrs ahead of their arrival time into Port. Additionally, Pilot operators can now see when an incoming vessel reaches a designated position near the boarding ground, at which point, they can engage their engines and begin their voyage to meet up with the inbound vessel. In time, this is expected to reduce the fuel costs and the maintenance cost for these vessels as the vessel can remain disengaged in port until the inbound vessel is seen to reach the designated position, whereas, Pilots formally had to engage their engines and move out to the boarding ground ahead of time, to wait for an inbound vessel that may, or may not, be arriving at a scheduled time. CREST Queensland was able to provide the technology to the Port of Apia free of charge, due to the sponsorship arrangements we have with VesselTracker . During the presentation, I announced that VesselTracker is very keen to expand their coverage in the Pacific region and I was pleased to announce that I am able to provide, free of charge, an AIS tracking station to any Pacific Based Port Operations team or Shipping company located near a Port which does not already have coverage in our AIS network. This offer was taken up immediately by Fiji, Nauru, and The Cook Islands and delegates from these nations were provided with one of the 3 AIS Stations that I had with me in Samoa. A further 7 applications were received from Delegates attending the conference and their AIS monitoring stations will be sent from Australia within the next 2 weeks. The offer I made - to provide a free AIS tracking station - is still open to any PMTA member or delegate who has a port area that would benefit from seeing real-time vessel movements in their area of operations. If you are interested, please contact me on the email address at the bottom of the photo that I posted. I will forward all the documentation that explains further who we are and how we can assist with your Port Operations by deploying one of our AIS tracking stations. Cheers, Ray
Thank you Emani for sharing this video. I use to work at SPA from 2001 - 2006 as admin for the Port Master and his crew. Missed my SPA family RIL Tepatasi Risale, whom was like a father figure to us all. Captains Laban, Asotau & Tagaloa. Senior Pilot Lolesio, Pilots Herman, Tifaga & Iakopo. Engineers and the crews.
As I reviewed this video, I noticed that the audio is missing from the last couple of presentations so if I may, I would like to explain to the PMTA members who were unable to attend this year’s conference, what my presentation was about. CREST Queensland (based in Australia) is a group of volunteer radio monitors who primarily monitor publicly available emergency channels - including marine VHF and HF radio channels. In recent years, members of CREST Queensland began to develop a local AIS network that displays AIS equipped vessels on an overly within Google Earth. A major vessel tracking company heard about our local AIS network and began sponsoring CREST with AIS equipment to install in locations where there was an interest in tracking vessel movements. Since VesselTracker began this sponsorship, CREST has been involved in deploying over 150 land based AIS receivers which are now feeding AIS data to our local servers, and the data is shared with VesselTracker who provide the data to many of their high profile clients, including Lloyds of London (shipping insurance). AIS was developed in the 1990s as a vessel collision avoidance system . The system relies on a VHF transmitter which sends out messages to other AIS equipped vessels. These messages contain details such as, GPS coordinates, SOG, COC, Vessel Name, flag of registration. The information is used to predict a vessel’s position up to 30 minutes ahead and then compare this track with similar tracks being transmitted by surrounding vessels. Should 2 or more vessels be likely to occupy a similar position somewhere along their predicted tracks, the crew of each vessel will receive an audible warning advising them of the potential for a collision. Each vessel then has up to 30 minutes to take evasive action to avoid the collision. It is these same radio signals that our land based AIS network intercepts and rather than the data being used as a collision warning system, the data is collected and displayed on a computer screen which allows Port Management and Maritime Safety organisations to monitor AIS equipped vessel traffic in their area of operations. In the case of the AIS tracking system installed at the Port of Apia (Samoa) 5 weeks ago, Marine Pilots, tug operators and port management now have the ability to view, on a computer screen, in real-time, vessels approaching the Port of Apia up to 4 hrs ahead of their arrival time into Port. Additionally, Pilot operators can now see when an incoming vessel reaches a designated position near the boarding ground, at which point, they can engage their engines and begin their voyage to meet up with the inbound vessel. In time, this is expected to reduce the fuel costs and the maintenance cost for these vessels as the vessel can remain disengaged in port until the inbound vessel is seen to reach the designated position, whereas, Pilots formally had to engage their engines and move out to the boarding ground ahead of time, to wait for an inbound vessel that may, or may not, be arriving at a scheduled time. CREST Queensland was able to provide the technology to the Port of Apia free of charge, due to the sponsorship arrangements we have with VesselTracker . During the presentation, I announced that VesselTracker is very keen to expand their coverage in the Pacific region and I was pleased to announce that I am able to provide, free of charge, an AIS tracking station to any Pacific Based Port Operations team or Shipping company located near a Port which does not already have coverage in our AIS network. This offer was taken up immediately by Fiji, Nauru, and The Cook Islands and delegates from these nations were provided with one of the 3 AIS Stations that I had with me in Samoa. A further 7 applications were received from Delegates attending the conference and their AIS monitoring stations will be sent from Australia within the next 2 weeks. The offer I made - to provide a free AIS tracking station - is still open to any PMTA member or delegate who has a port area that would benefit from seeing real-time vessel movements in their area of operations. If you are interested, please contact me on the email address at the bottom of the photo that I posted. I will forward all the documentation that explains further who we are and how we can assist with your Port Operations by deploying one of our AIS tracking stations. Cheers, Ray