AMSA outcome 1: Minimising the risk of shipping incidents and pollution in Australian waters
AMSA, 14th Annual Report, 2003 - 2004
Output 1.4: Systems that aid safe marine navigation
AMSA’s Maritime Safety and Environmental Strategy Division delivers this output by:
- Providing the national network of integrated aids to navigation and coastal traffic management measures that meet the requirements of commercial shipping for safe and efficient coastal navigation;
- Participating in the development and application of international navigation safety policy and standards, principally through the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA);
- Providing a maritime safety communications network that broadcasts and receives safety and navigation information to and from ships at sea.
Operating Environment in 2003-2004
During 2003-2004, AMSA’s delivery of Output 1.4 in relation to systems aiding safe marine navigation was influenced by the following external factors:
- Australia’s support for development of international standards and operational practices in the provision of aids to navigation by the IMO and IALA.
- The impact of technological developments on provision of aids to marine navigation, including the expansion in global satellite navigation services providing highly accurate positioning fixing systems and availability of low cost remote monitoring systems.
- The effects of changes in AMSA’s delivery of marine aids to navigation services by external service providers.
- Government endorsement of relevant recommendations of the Review of Great Barrier Reef Ship Safety and Pollution Prevention Measures, including
– improving the REEFREP ship reporting service;
– examining alternative ship tracking technologies; and
– developing the aids to navigation network.
AMSA’s Response to the Operating Environment
In response to these external factors in the operating environment, AMSA identified the following objectives and underpinning responses and priority actions to focus its work on achievement of the portfolio outcome of a better transport system for Australia.
Objective 1: A better transport system for Australia by Australia maintaining a national |
AMSA Response 1.1: AMSA to maintain world’s best practice availability for marine aids |
Priority Actions for Response 1.1
Actively participate in IALA in contributing to international development of standards for aids to navigation and navigation systems
During 2003-2004, AMSA represented Australia at the IALA Council meetings held in December 2003 and June 2004. AMSA also participated in meetings of IALA’s Aids to Navigation Management Committee, the Automatic Information Systems (AIS) Committee and the Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) Committee, as well as IALA’s quadrennial VTS Symposium held in Hong Kong in February 2004.
Major issues considered at these meetings included: Development of product certification guidelines, the involvement of IALA in new maritime security measures, the reclassification of categories of aids to navigation, availability objectives for aids to navigation, the provision of aids to navigation for different classes of vessels, VTS operating procedures and equipment performance standards, and adoption of new technologies in aids to navigation.
The AIS Committee continued to develop the technical and operational aspects of AIS, including the recommendations and guidelines required by the international community.
During the year, IALA finalised its risk assessment model, with assistance from the United States Coast Guard, Canadian Coast Guard and IALA personnel. AMSA hosted a workshop in Cairns in March 2004 and invited relevant personnel from these organisations to demonstrate the model using the Torres Strait as the subject. The workshop was successful, with results clearly indicating that the threat to the Torres Strait environment from a pollution incident was high and that compulsory pilotage would significantly reduce the risk of a collision and grounding.
Continue to implement AMSA’s Five-Year Strategic Plan for Marine Aids to Navigation developed in consultation with the shipping industry, State and Territory administrations and other stakeholders
AMSA’s Five-Year Strategic Plan for Marine Aids to Navigation provides the policy framework underpinning AMSA’s decision making to sustain the future performance of the national aids to navigation network. It includes a three-year rolling work program within a ten-year strategic outlook on the future direction of national aids to navigation. It ensures that the shipping industry has a transparent means of assessing AMSA’s performance of this function and the appropriate allocation of levy funding.
The work program during 2003-2004 produced improvements to the network through a number of major projects including work on the permanent system of aids to navigation marking LADS Passage and Fairway Channel in the Great Barrier Reef and upgrading of structures involved with remote monitoring of tidal and current information in the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait (which are detailed later in this section.) The light tower at Browse Island in Western Australia was replaced.
AMSA has been working through the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs with the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government to address the high number of navigation aid failures in PNG waters. AMSA also is providing ad-hoc advice and assistance to PNG through an Asian Development Bank project to establish its maritime safety agency and hydrographic capability in PNG.
An important aspect of the strategic plan is maintaining strong consultative links with key stakeholders with an interest in the effective and efficient operation of the aids to navigation network. AMSA’s Navigational Services Advisory Committee (NSAC) is the principal consultative forum on navigational services matters in Australian waters. It comprises representatives from AMSA, the commercial shipping industry, marine pilots and the Royal Australian Navy’s Australian Hydrographic Service. During 2003-2004, the NSAC met twice in December 2003 and June 2004. The Committee considered proposals in relation to the future directions for the aids to navigation network and addressed the following major issues:
- Implementation of measures to promote ship safety and pollution prevention in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait, including the upgrading of the Ship Reporting System to a Coastal VTS and phased roll-out of AIS.
- Review of the aids to navigation network around Australia
- Progress in the production of Electronic Navigational Charts by the Australian Hydrographic Service.
- Changes to the Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) carriage requirements proposed by Australia to IMO in 2004, with the aim of increasing the uptake of ECDIS globally. Australia’s proposal to the IMO seeks to permit the use of ECDIS, without the requirement to carry paper charts.
- International development of the operational and technical aspects of AIS.
- AMSA’s involvement with the work of IALA.
- Issues relating to the implementation by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003 which came into force on 1 July 2004.
AMSA Response 1.2: AMSA to implement relevant recommendations from the 2001
Review of Great Barrier Reef Ship Safety and Pollution Prevention
Measures in relation to improving safety of marine navigation in the
Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait. |
Priority Actions for Response 1.2
Contribute to the redevelopment of the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait Ship Reporting System (REEFREP) to a Coastal Vessel Traffic Service in accordance with IALA guidelines and with recognition by the IMO
The 2001 Review of Great Barrier Reef Ship Safety and Pollution Prevention Measures proposed the upgrading of the mandatory ship reporting system, REEFREP, which operates in the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait. The system is a joint initiative of the Australian and Queensland Governments and applies to ships greater than 50 metres in length and some other classes of ships. It is to move to an IMO approved Coastal Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) based on internationally accepted IALA guidelines. It will have the capability to interact more frequently with shipping and to respond to developing traffic situations.
In May 2004, the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee endorsed the elevation of REEFREP to a Coastal Vessel Traffic Service in recognition of significant enhancements made to its capabilities. These improvements included adopting new technologies, such as Automated Position Reporting via the satellite system, INMARSAT C, and Automatic Identification System (AIS). It was recognised that such a VTS would provide a mechanism to minimize the risk of damage by shipping, heighten seafarers’ awareness of the region’s environmental sensitivity and increase maritime safety.
Assist in the Australian application of new ship tracking and communications technologies (Automatic Identification Systems) and ship polling via the INMARSAT C satellite system
The 2001 Review of Great Barrier Reef Ship Safety and Pollution Prevention Measures supported the implementation of Automatic Identification System (AIS) in the Great Barrier Reef and the use of INMARSAT C for monitoring ships transiting the region.
AIS is a shipboard broadcast system that automatically exchanges ship related information (such as identity, position, course, speed, and ship characteristics) with suitably equipped ships and shore facilities. As part of its maritime security agenda, the IMO advanced its timetable for mandatory carriage of AIS requiring all vessels within the purview of the SOLAS Convention to be fitted with AIS by 31 December 2004.
Following the success of AMSA initiated trials of the AIS in 2001, AMSA recently upgraded the three AIS base stations installed for the trial in the Torres Strait, at Cairns, and on Pelorus Island north of Townsville, to the new international standards. These now operate with a fourth AIS base station established by Maritime Safety Queensland at REEFCENTRE at Mackay. During 2004-2005, two additional base stations are to be installed at Penrith Island, near Mackay, and Sue Islet in the Torres Strait, with further rollout of AIS being planned.
The deployment of AIS will complement recent advancements such as automated position reporting through the INMARSAT C global satellite communication network. All ships in Australian waters are fitted with INMARSAT C equipment as part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) requirements, which provides shore facilities with automated pre-programmed ship position data. The upgrading of the REEFREP system included introduction in October 2003 of voluntary participation by ships in automated position reporting arrangements, with about 70 per cent of ships participating in the REEFREP reporting system electing to use automated position reporting during 2003-2004.
Provide new and updated aids to navigation to improve ship safety in the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait
The 2001 Review of Great Barrier Reef Ship Safety and Pollution Prevention Measures recommended that work developing the Fairway Channel should be accelerated to improve opportunities for traffic separation and provide an opportunity for coastal pilots to take a rest break.
AMSA continued work on installing 14 new aids (nine fixed structures and five buoys) to assist vessels in navigation through LADS Passage (Fairway Channel) in the Great Barrier Reef. While this work was scheduled for completion by mid 2004, adverse weather conditions have delayed the completion of the final two fixed structures until early 2005. The marking of LADS Passage will provide a higher degree of navigational safety and a shorter transit time (saving on average one to one and half hours) for vessels traversing the Great Barrier Reef between Cairns and Cape York. It also will assist merchant ships to keep clear of concentrations of fishing vessels often found in the Princess Charlotte Bay area.
Three new structures were completed to mark a deeper and safer route through the Great North East Channel in the Torres Strait. A new structure was recently completed at Nardana Patches to augment existing real time tidal height broadcasts in the Prince of Wales Channel with tidal stream information.
PERFORMANCE REVIEW 2003-2004
Output Group 1: Ship Operations Safety and Marine Environment Protection Program
Output 1.4: Systems that aid safe marine navigation:
AMSA provides technical, maintenance and engineering services supporting the provision of a national network of integrated aids to navigation and traffic management measures to meet the needs of commercial shipping for safe and efficient coastal navigation. AMSA also provides a distress and safety communications network under the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).
| Strategy: Enhancement of systems that aid safe navigation. | |
|---|---|
| Measure | Performance 2003-2004 |
| Marine navigational aids network meets requirements of the five-year Navigational Strategic Plan. (Quality) Target: 100% in accordance with the Plan. |
During 2003-2004, all Plan requirements were met. |
| Availability of the marine navigational aids network. (Quality) Target Visual: Cat 1 - 99.8% Cat 2 - 99.0% Cat 3 - 97.0% Racons: 99.6% Tide gauges: 99.6% DGPS: 99.6% Ship Reporting System: 98% Unlit Beacons: 95% Topmarks or daymarks: 95% |
Availability of the marine navigational aids network. (Quality) Target Visual: Cat 1 - 99.8% Cat 2 - 99.9% Cat 3 - 99.9% Racons: 99.9% Tide gauges: 99.3% DGPS: 99.8% Ship Reporting System: 94.0% Unlit Beacons: 100% Topmarks or daymarks: 99.96% |
| Provision of a comprehensive network of aids to navigation. (Quantity) Target: 338 lights, 39 racons, 6 radar, 13 auxiliary lights, 9 unlit beacons 13 DGPS, and 5 tide gauges over 367 locations |
During 2003-2004, network comprised: 332 lights, 46 racons, 4 radar, 12 auxiliary lights, 9 unlit beacons, 16 DGPS, and 4 tide gauges over 365 locations |
| Cost to provide a network of aids to navigation. (Price) Target: 2003-2004 estimates:$18.325 million |
During 2003-2004, the estimated cost of providing the network is $18.643 million. |
| Cost per aid to navigation location. (Price) Target: $49,900 per location |
During 2003-2004, the cost estimate per aid to navigation was $51,077 per location. |
| Median time taken to distribute safety information messages. (Quality) Target: 2 hours |
During 2003-2004, the median time was 24 minutes. |
| Capability to distribute a number of safety messages per day. (Quantity) Target: An average of 5 messages per day |
During 2003-2004, 496 messages were sent and capability maintained to distribute an average of at least five messages per day. |
| Cost to provide maritime safety messages. (Price) Target: 2003-2004 estimates: $0.298 million |
During 2003-2004, the cost is estimated to be $0.282 million. |
Role of AMSA | Highlights 2003-2004 | Chairman's Report | Board Members | Corporate Structure | Financial Snapshot and Performance Summary | Overview of Financial Performance 2003-2004 | Outcomes and Outputs Chart 2003-2004 | Activities in 2003-2004 Output 1.1 | Activities in 2003-2004 Output 1.2 | Activities in 2003-2004 Output 1.3 | Activities in 2003-2004 Output 1.4 | Activities in 2003-2004 Output 2.1 | Corporate Services | Shipping Registration | Staffing Reports | Report of Operations | Financial Statements | Appendices | AMSA Regulatory Plan 2003-2004 | AMSA Information/Offices | Compliance Index | Glossary | Index