I need to equip my ships with AIS

Pacific Maritime Magazine and www.uais.org produced a one-day AIS conference for ship operators in Seattle on November 19, 2002. The Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia and the Marine Exchange of Puget Sound sponsored the conference. Following is a summary of some of the interesting issues that were discussed.

IMO’s schedule for the implementation of AIS on SOLAS ships is being accelerated. During the IMO Conference that will be held in London on December 9 – 13, the US, for security purposes, will propose that ship-board AIS implementation be completed by year-end 2004 rather than in 2008. In the current security conscious climate it seems likely that this proposal will be adopted. Also, the USCG has proposed to expand AIS carriage requirements for US flagged ships far beyond IMO’s requirements. US Congress is mandating (under the Marine Transportation Security Act) that all commercial ships (boats really) over 20 m LoA, all passenger boats and tugs over 8m and more than 600 HP carry an AIS. The audience, which included tugboat operators, groaned when Jorge Arroyo of USCG announced the legislation. Jorge explained that the legislation permits the Secretary of homeland defense to exempt certain classes of ships and waterways from the carriage requirements. Proposed regulations are forthcoming and include public hearings addressing the issue.

Transport Canada has yet to harmonize its carriage requirements for Canadian flagged ships with the proposed US requirements. Canada may take a more cooperative stance and entice non-SOLAS ships to participate in AIS by allowing some private communication over the AIS network. Ed Monteiro’s PACMAR took a survey of fishing boat operators that confirmed their interest in AIS if it would substitute for the on-board observer from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Miriam van Roosmalen of the Canadian Coast Guard, who is planning Canada’s AIS Infrastructure, expects it will take 2 to 3 years to complete. Jorge Arroyo said it probably will take the US about as long for their Ports & Waterways Safety System implementation (AIS-based VTSs). New Orleans, Berwick Bay, Sault Ste. Marie are being outfitted today, Prince William Sound in Alaska will be complete by July 1, 2003 and Puget Sound will follow in 2004. Jorge expects that about 16 million position reports per year will be avoided once the AIS infrastructure is in place. Jorge also explained that AIS infrastructure outside VTS areas will be addressed through Rescue 21, the USCG modernization of the Nation’s Maritime Distress Network. Long-Range Ship Reporting (probably using Standard C satellite communication) is seriously being considered by IMO and the U.S.

Ed Monteiro of PACMAR raised the intriguing possibility of making AIS infrastructure a joint private/public partnership, much like was accomplished with the ITOS system. ITOS stands for the International Tug of Opportunity System. It includes about 150 tugs and is based on a proprietary transponder design. The system helps to identify the nearest tug in case of an emergency. The Marine Exchange of Puget Sound operates ITOS.

Jorge Arroyo confirmed that VTS Operators will be expected to report a ship that fails to broadcast its particulars via AIS. Ships must report malfunctioning AIS transponders. However, a ship with a malfunctioning transponder will not be prevented from departing explained John Yeung of Transport Canada. In such cases Transport Canada will issue a temporary carriage waiver. This is important because it avoids classification of AIS as a ‘No Sail’ item, which would prompt installation of a back-up transponder according to Dave Smith of Alaska Tanker Company.

Jorge Arroyo indicated that as of today at least 6 transponder models are in the type approval process: FURUNO, JRC, STN Atlas, NautiCast, SAAB and MDS. He also cautioned that there are no standards yet for displaying AIS information on existing ‘type approved’ devices, i.e. ECDIS or Radar. This lead to a discussion about type-approved AIS displays. Certification agencies, like BSH, QinetiQ and Telefication, issue a ‘type-approved’ certificate for a transponder model including its (minimum keyboard) display. It is not clear if this certification will stand if the transponder’s display is subsequently replaced by an ECDIS or a radar that controls the transponder.

Larry Bischoff of Holland America Line, who is in the middle of installing of transponders on all Holland America Line and Windstar cruise ships, explained that he selected a type approved transponder for the whole fleet that can be serviced and repaired by the same organization that maintains much of the other bridge equipment. The transponder Larry selected includes a type-approved dGPS mostly because the dGPS of many ships in his fleet needed upgrading anyway. Not all ships in his fleet have (the same) ECDIS. For fleet standardization and budget considerations Larry has postponed making a connection between ECDIS and AIS for the whole fleet until it has become ‘Plug-N-Play’. Larry’s experience with connecting ECDIS and AIS on ZAANDAM and VOLENDAM showed that it prolongs installation and isn’t fool proof. Dave Smith of Alaska Tanker Company, who soon will be installing transponders on tankers, agreed with Holland America’s approach and plans to use the minimum keyboard display at least until the dust settles. Alaska Tanker Company budgeted about US$10,000 per tanker but Holland America Line is finding that it takes about twice that. Transponder installation on ships smaller than 5,000 GRT that do not require a connection with either a Rate-of-Turn or a Heading sensor and involve much shorter cables are expected to cost about $5,000 if they are not connected with either radar or ECDIS.

Stewart Furness of Radio Holland (Canada), who performed many of the installations for Holland America Line, found that he had to go through a rather steep learning curve with these installations. One of Stewart’s biggest headaches was the required connection of the Rate-of-Turn sensor to the transponder. Jorge indicated that an inexpensive interface is available (GyroLink) that turns the output of an older gyro into the format required for connection to AIS. When asked how long it takes a technician to install a transponder, Stewart estimated about 16 hours if the technician has experience, if the ship’s staff has pulled the necessary cables and if no connection to ECDIS or the integrated bridge system is required.

Chris Hempstead of the Pacific Maritime Institute noted that while AIS could be a valuable addition to a navigator’s toolset, it is a complicated instrument with very definite limitations that a navigator must understand. Jorge Arroyo encouraged the Pacific Maritime Institute and other Maritime Training Institutions to define what AIS training should cover and how it should be taught. Jorge indicated that, once training institutions have agreed on what AIS training should entail, regulators are likely to require bridge officers to be trained for using AIS hopefully under the auspices of STCW. Chris estimated that training officers about the limitations and proper use of AIS information on ECDIS could probably be accomplished during a one-week course.

Steve Poole of the British Columbia Ferry Corporation explained that BC Ferries’ bridge teams have a strong preference for displaying AIS information on ECDIS rather than on radar. He supported their argument with radar and ECDIS screenshots (see Radar and ECDIS screenshots) of a typical traffic situation in a narrow and winding pass between the Gulf Islands that ferries often transit simultaneously from opposite directions (Active Pass). He showed that the AIS target icon for a ferry that is approaching the opposite entrance of the winding pass shows on screen without any context, i.e. without the contour of the winding passage, thus making it impossible to determine if it is adhering to its side of the channel or where in the pass the ferries are likely to pass each other.

AIS proved so valuable to the bridge teams of the ferries that, now that the test has been completed, Steve is having trouble convincing the bridge teams to ‘give up’ their transponders.

The author of this article presented 18 recommendations from bridge teams of 3 modern cruise ships. They evaluated AIS last summer in British Columbia and S. E. Alaska. They specified how AIS information should be displayed and how the AIS infrastructure should be set up. Their detailed recommendations were so specific that in the process they defined what ‘AIS-Aided Navigation’ means as a state of the art. Below is a very high level listing of the actual recommendations. It doesn’t provide any background or detail but gives a tantalizing indication of the nature of their recommendations:

1. All ships longer than 20 m should display as AIS targets

6. Publish transit sequence schedules for narrow channels, lock entrances, bridges and capes.

12. Allow the OOW to save his/her preferred navigation information display settings in a user profile

Space limitations prevent detailed explanation of the reasons behind the recommendations in this article, but readers are encouraged to learn about the teams' thoughtful and thorough evaluation of AIS on www.uais.org. The recommendations are currently being conveyed to those who are in a position to act on them: primarily vendors of AIS information displays (via IEC Technical Committee 80 Work Group 13) but also to coastal authorities, VTS operators and ship operators.

Joe Bienert of the Western Marine Community participated in most of the 
international negotiations that will result in a standard for Class B transponders. These 
transponders are intended to work much like Class A's but should hopefully be much less 
expensive to manufacture. Joe showed how difficult it is to design a transponder that is 
less expensive and still capable enough to be allowed to operate on the Class A network. 
Simplification proposals range from reserving time slots just for Class B transponders, 
eliminating VHF Channel 70 DSC capability, limiting frequency agility to higher frequencies 
and preventing Class B transponders from broadcasting when the network is getting close 
to its capacity. Since none of these proposals seem to be acceptable, Joe remains pessimistic 
about achieving a significant cost differential between Class A and Class B transponders.

Admiral Rudy Peschel USCG (Retired), in his lunch address, asked attendees
to focus on AIS' promise rather than on the issues that still need resolving. He deemed 
the conference a valuable contribution to the introduction of AIS and requested that 
another one be held next year or even in 6 months.


Fred W. Pot is Principal of Marine Management Consulting, an AIS consultancy 
based in Seattle. He can be reached at www.uais.org.

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I need to equip my ships with AIS…

1. All ships longer than 20 m should display as AIS targets