Vasan inaugurated VTMS at Chennai Port

High tech surveillance radars will now continuously monitor ships that are entering the Chennai waters. A vessel traffic management system (VTMS) has been installed at the Chennai Port, which will increase the efficiency of surveillance and tracking vessel movement in the port limits, Daily Shipping Times reports.

The surveillance is for nearly 2 kilometre but can be extended to 48 nautical miles with advanced software.

The Union Minister, Mr. G.K. Vasan, who inaugurated the new system, said that there were a couple of other major ports that have implemented the system. All the major ports will have such high tech system in place. “We need to keep our boundaries secure,” he added.

The vessel traffic management system is similar to a ‘black box’ in an aircraft. It has auto identification system, radar system and communication links enabling operators to manage the vessel traffic, monitor the environment and support port and harbour resources.

So far the port has been monitoring the traffic movement of ships by contracts through VHF, he said.