Apart from the working capital issue of rolling out, the big elephant in the room is enforcement.Without it, there is no point.Installation has to be mandatory on all boats-something fishing boats are clearly not keen to do |
C5
I think it would be better if they didn't condense it. SRT simply does not have the balance sheet ratios to cope with that scenario. They would have to raise a colossal amount of money simply to meet those criteria without actually needing it. Furthermore, UKEF doesn't look like they are capable of condensing anything.
It would be better for the Philippines in theory to have everything in place so they could make use of it, but practically there is only one region where it is urgent. They also haven't been able to get transponders on the small number of fishing boats after four or five years, so you have to wonder about the feasibility of any potential timescale - without the transponders to identify vessels, the system is practically useless. |
My understanding is that the PCG is planning 1 billion US dollar spend on MDA. Systems over the next ten years. Just supposing that they take a leaf out of Indonesia and condense delivery over three years but pay for it over ten years, with the help of UKEF. As Lav flags up, the 60 day response requirement from BBM identifies that he is in a hurry. |
Well-spotted Piedro.
Decisions even on Easter Sunday! And 60 days to 'to formulate and issue maritime security guidelines for immediate implementation'. A sense of urgency perhaps?
I suspect that we will be seeing a raft information about what they have decided to do about PCG/AFP modernization as well as the marine domain and awareness of it. Hopefully SRT will be key to that last part. |
Says something but not much ...
Philippines Reshuffles its Maritime Security Command Structure
PUBLISHED MAR 31, 2024 10:54 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE
Amid China’s rising aggression in the South China Sea, the Philippines is moving to boost its maritime security through the re-organization of a top coordinating body. ... |
CM reminds me of David Brent
There’s good and bad news-sadly I’m making you redundant but the good news is I’m getting a promotion! |
That’s a bit marginal ! Chill out - nothing we do can affect the contracts. |
The Baltimore incident will focus the minds of maritime authorities around the World about how to make the navigation of waterways and ports safer.When they do their research,they will learn about Digital Atons guiding the ships under the bridge. |
CM5. Why would everyone be calling SRT ?. It is well established that the bridge had Aton and there was a loss of power on the ship. That sounds like more wishful thinking. |
It is estimated that there are 50,000 bridges over navigable waterways in the US and clearly there are many more around the world. It appears, that at present, the SRT Aton is the only product for this market. However, the market extends way beyond bridges to ports, canals and any location where buoys are located. I suspect that SRT will be receiving numerous enquiries following the Baltimore incident. |
Super
Don't forget that the speed and rate of turn messages in the AIS broadcast are taken from the ship's system so it is not surprisng that it is accurate. All that and much more will be recorded in the black box. |
This video is from the comments on the preceding link:
Worth watching the traffic on the bridge - still going, even after impact... |
 This is a useful analysis of the Baltimore accident. It's clear that AIS was still operating at the time of impact, as I surmised. Unfortunately the information generated didn't go into a system that was capable of interpreting it and taking the appropriate action eg alerting vehicles entering and already on the bridge.
What's new for me in this is the capability of AIS, with supporting systems, to inform the subsequent enquiry and remedial actions.
A few extracts:
At the time of the accident, two pilots [...] from Baltimore were on board. The Dali was broadcasting its position publicly via the automatic identification system (AIS) and was traveling at a speed of over 8.5 knots. It then slowed to around 6 knots in the moments before the crash, according to AIS data.
[...]
Lawyer James Turner of Quadrant Chambers in London specializes in, among other things, ship collisions. He says that there would have been no automated systems on board a merchant ship of this kind able to prevent the impact. Information from radar, AIS, and visual observations would have been available to the crew, however.
[...]
He adds that estimates of the ship’s speed at the time of the incident as recorded by AIS are likely “99.99 percent accurate.” |
cm - thanks - it seems astonishing to me that for a behemoth like this, there's no battery backup for vital safety systems. I don't suppose ST commented on that? |
I sent an email to Simon about the Baltimore bridge and he consented to me posting his reply. (Note the SRT reference)
The bridge had 4 SRT AtoN devices fitted to guide vessels in the right area. The issue was it lost power and steerage and so couldn’t do anything about it.
What it does do is highlight how important navigation aids are - the atons were fitted to stop the many accidents that would otherwise happen. We can now see what happens when a ship hits a bridge. 99.9% of the time having das atons will prevent accidents. Most bridges are yet to be fitted.
He also said that the cause needs to be investigated and it appears the vessel lost power. |
Hi AE
If we assume that series of projects resembles a much bigger version of what Bakamla are getting and with extra bells and whistles, then there was a Norwegian, a German and a French bidder. The IMEMS project was to be financed by a French Treasury loan rather than export credit. I don't think that the buyers' processes differ between the two, but the financing is well different, a soft loan as opposed to export credit which has to meet WTO standards.
Given the size of the overall programme, I think it is safe to assume that all the big players will have been pitching for business. |
If it was a loss of power on the ship, AIS wouldn’t help at all |
UKEF support for future systems contracts around the world will become increasingly important. Obviously M E countries with oil revenue have the necessary funds but many S E Asia and African countries need a line of credit. Although the UKEF contract has taken much longer than SRT had hoped, it has set the ball rolling for other future contracts. Although £145 million is the largest SRT systems contract so far, others in the pipeline are much larger. Another source of finance for fisheries contracts is the World Bank, which understands the SRT system. My understanding is that the World Bank will fund upto 50% of certain fisheries contracts. |
"a less suitable bidder if they have the finance"
well we know what happened when CLS was deemed less suitable but had the finance. Who else would qualify as less suitable? |
Thanks, but what is the source, and how would you interpret it? |
I saw this and found it interesting.
[...]
It seems to be something of a leak and suggests to me that decisions are currently being made on the PCG's budget. Tier 2 (new) projects have to be submitted by 20 April to the budget people and, of course, on the right forms. Foreign assisted projects have a different form to local ones and you can't submit both.
The other thing is that even if you are the preferred supplier the project can be awarded to a less suitable bidder if they have the finance. I know that UKEF have been in discussions over there but our experience to date with them has yet to show an outcome. However, given the very large expenditures envisaged for the APF/PCG modernization plan, finance will count for a lot. |
With a ship that size, they would have had to change course a long way before the bridge, so power must have been lost a fair time before the collision. |
Well, you could automate the process to put warnings on the bridge signs: that would stop vehicles entering and warn those already on it. Yes, it could be done manually, but that costs money, and is not very reliable, particularly for accidents like this that happened overnight. |
Also, the piers of this bridge are already marked with AIS AtoNs. Take a look on marinetraffic.com. Each pier has a marker plus one to either side to mark the navigable channel.
However, in general CM5 is correct, marking fixed structures in the busy marine domains with digital AtoNs is a very good idea. |
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