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System to safeguard ships from terrorism
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-25 22:15 China's first universal automatic identification
system should be operating by July,identifying ocean-going ships on the Yangtze
River and protecting them from potential terrorism.
Officials with the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration say the new system
is able to keep track of ships, their countries of origin, their size, and
number of crew. "It can be used to prevent terrorism... we could identify
precisely the target,'' said Liu Gongchen, executive deputy director of the
Maritime Safety Administration of China.
He made his remarks while attending a three-day meeting of the 34th Council
of the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse
Authorities. It closes today.
Liu said in his interview with China Daily that the system, which is still
being adjusted,is set up in accordance with the International Maritime
Organization standards.
Another system will be built in Guangzhou to identify the ships sailing in he
Pearl Delta.
Some 1,100 Chinese ocean-going vessels carrying cargo, containers and oil are
required to be installed with tracking devices before July 1, Liu said.
All foreign ships which sail into China should already have the devices.
Otherwise, they are not allowed to enter Chinese territorial seas.
According to a spokesman with the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration,
all of the country's 6,000 ocean-going ships are required to complete
installation of tracking devices by July 1, 2005.
"We plan to build more than 100 tracking stations along the coastlines by
2008,'' Liu said.
By then, the country's maritime safety administration organizations will be
able to identify all the ships along the coastlines with tracking devices,
ranging from the Bohai Sea to Fujian and the Qiongzhou Straits.
"The State will give financial support to pushing forward the AIS project in
order to keep ocean-going freighters safe on the way to China,'' he said.
Liu said the current council meeting is a "stimulus'' to China's efforts to
further improve its navigation aids and lighthouses.
"We will develop a sophisticated digital navigation system by importing
foreign high technologies and contribute to the world's maritime safety,'' he
said.
As a host for 2006 conference, the first in China, Shanghai is advancing its
navigation aids and lighthouse facilities to meet the requirements of becoming
an international shipping centre.
Torsten Kruuse, secretary general of the organization, highly praised the
city's preparations for the conference, saying "everything is absolutely
perfect.''
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