As part of the government’s measures to enhance marine traffic safety, all vessels weighing 20 gross tonnage or more will have to have an automatic identification system (AIS), the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday.
The policy, which is to take effect in July, would apply to ships registered in Taiwan, as well as those registered in other nations, the Department of Aviation and Navigation said.
The Marine Port Bureau is to install 14 AIS base stations and 19 navigational aid stations nationwide, the department said.
“The AIS and onshore facilities will enable us to have better control over all shipping activities happening within 20 nautical miles [37km] of the nation’s coast,” the department said.
The systems would allow authorities to issue timely warnings and activate emergency response mechanisms if ships deviate from navigation routes, sail too close to the coastline or linger outside anchor zones, it said.
The International Maritime Organization’s International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) mandates that all passenger ships, cargo ships that exceed 300 gross tonnage and sail international sea routes, and cargo ships that weigh more than 500 tonnes, but do not sail sea routes be equipped with AIS, the department said.
To comply with the convention, the government in 2008 amended the Regulations on Equipment of Ships (船舶設備規則) to ensure that Taiwanese ships abide by international regulations, it said.
However, the department said that it decided to further amend the regulations to require ships of 20 gross tonnage or more to follow the policy, given the increase in recreational boating activities such as deep-sea fishing and whale- watching and scuba-diving.
The revision is expected to increase the number of ships with AIS by 2,500.
Information gathered through the AIS system has helped address shipping service safety, marine environment protection and national security, the department said.
The government can use AIS to calculate ship traffic by Taiwanese vessels and to track route changes, the department said.
The data would help the government plan navigation routes and investigate marine accidents.
The government can also ask ship operators to curb their polluting emissions by monitoring the operating speeds of ships as they enter the nation’s harbors, the department said.
AIS data could also help law enforcement identify ships suspected of engaging in illegal activities, such as smuggling or human trafficking, it said.
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