Serbia installs new AIS base station

danube.news

A major task for competent authorities such as coastal and port authorities, police, customs, military, search and rescue centres and others, is to monitor ship traffic in their territorial waters. By further implementing an AIS service administration, Serbia now has an efficient tool to increase the situation awareness, the efficiency of operations, the safety, and to decrease the workload for the users and operators. Committed to the EU RIS Directive, the Serbian authorities have now extended the AIS coverage on the Danube, enabling the tracking and tracing capabilities, for increasing number of the AIS equipped vessels which have now reached the number of 120 navigating through the Serbian stretch of the Danube. This is a very important step in the process of RIS utilization by the authorities since it has introduced another governmental user of the services – Iron Gate I lock masters. Thus, the lockmaster can now identify the vessels approaching the lock area, and plan locking operations in a more efficient manner. By the end of 2008, half of Serbian Danube stretch will be covered with AIS technology.    

Source: Zoran Lukic, editorial via donau