Traffic control center
Map with all coordinates: 
As a traffic center (VTS, English Vessel Traffic Service Center - VTSC ) will be designated that a Vessel Traffic Service operate (VTS). They ensure maritime traffic safety and control and direct ship traffic in an area at sea.
A vessel traffic service is set up, for example, for approaching ports or in areas in which a traffic separation area has been established, for example in the German Bight or the English Channel. In a traffic control center operated by seaports or traffic authorities, there can be workplaces for several areas.
The technology essentially consists of radar surveillance , video surveillance systems , VHF radio and the Automatic Identification System (AIS) as well as computers. It is used for navigation as well as for the smooth flow of shipping , in which the sea warning service , traffic information and support are provided. The system is comparable to air traffic control in aviation ; similar inland navigation facilities are known as the control center .
The first radar surveillance of a port was put into operation in 1948 in Liverpool , followed in March 1950 by Long Beach (California) as the first system in the United States . The number of Vessel Traffic Services worldwide was given as 316 in 1997, 182 of them in Europe .
tasks
Traffic control centers are responsible for one or more areas , for example for access to a port from the approach at sea to the berth . According to the German Coast safety concept, the purpose of the traffic control centers is to prevent collisions, ground contact and environmental hazards and to control the flow of traffic. For this purpose, the skippers are informed about the traffic and weather conditions and, if necessary, support is offered and traffic is regulated.
The tasks are in detail:
- Surveillance of the area: function and position of the navigation signs ; Wind, water levels and visibility; State of the waterways
- Monitoring of shipping traffic and the flow of traffic: receiving and processing ship reports; Monitor compliance with traffic regulations; promote efficient traffic flow; Issue permits and exemptions; Monitor compliance with terms and conditions; Identify and document administrative offenses and, if necessary, initiate investigations
- Support of shipping traffic to ensure the safety and ease of shipping traffic: report traffic situation, special incidents, disruptions to shipping signs; Provide traffic information and navigation assistance; Regulate shipping traffic
- Emergency management
Legal
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) obliges the member states in the "International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea" (SOLAS) to set up traffic control centers wherever there is traffic density or the extent of the hazards such services require. Each VTS must be based on the IMO regulations ; currently IMO A. 857 (20) applies , until 1997 IMO A. 578 (14) . This was made more concrete under the impression of various shipping accidents with devastating environmental pollution in 2002 in the European Directive 2002/59 / EC on the establishment of a common monitoring and information system for ship traffic . In Germany, the Sea Tasks Act and the traffic regulations based on it, § 10 Ship Safety Ordinance and the Federal Waterways Act are decisive.
Germany
The first attempts with radar centers in Germany were made in the early 1960s in Cuxhaven , Brunsbüttel and Bremerhaven . On September 6, 1965, the first permanent radar center was put into operation in Bremerhaven. In 1967 Borkum began trial operations in the mouth of the Ems . In 2018, a total of ten traffic control centers were in operation along the entire German coast between the Dutch , Danish and Polish borders, which have been looking after 26 areas since 2017. Each area has its own nickname. This includes a radar network with 46 radar stations, a coast-wide VHF radiotelephone network with 43 locations and an AIS network with 37 locations (as of 2015). Nine centers are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) and are each affiliated to a Waterways and Shipping Office (WSA), the tenth belongs to the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA). The traffic control centers in Germany also take over the Maritime Assistance Services .
At the Maritime Simulation Center Warnemünde on the campus of the area Warnemünde the Hochschule Wismar is since 1999 a simulator for traffic control centers (VTSS).
| Name and authority | Called name and territory | place |
|---|---|---|
|
Ems traffic center , WSA Ems-Nordsee |
west of Emden an der Knock , ⊙ | |
| Traffic center Wilhelmshaven, WSA Weser-Jade-Nordsee |
|
Wilhelmshaven , Schleusenstraße, ⊙ |
| Bremerhaven traffic control center, WSA Weser-Jade-Nordsee |
|
Bremerhaven , at the old outer harbor, ⊙ |
| Bremen traffic center, WSA Weser-Jade-Nordsee |
Bremen , at the Wilhelm Kaisen Bridge , ⊙ | |
| Cuxhaven traffic center, WSA Cuxhaven |
|
Cuxhaven , Am alten Hafen 2, ⊙ |
| Brunsbüttel traffic center, WSA Hamburg |
|
Brunsbüttel , on the Schleuseninsel, ⊙ |
| Hamburg Nautical Headquarters, Hamburg Port Authority |
|
Hamburg-Waltershof , at the pilot house Seemannshöft , ⊙ |
| NOK traffic control center, WSA Brunsbüttel |
|
Brunsbüttel , on the Schleuseninsel, ⊙ |
| Travemünde traffic control center, WSA Lübeck |
|
Travemünde , at the Travemünde lighthouse , ⊙ |
| Warnemünde traffic center, WSA Stralsund |
|
Warnemünde , Ostmole, ⊙ |
Web links
literature
- VTS Guide Germany 2005 , published by BSH , 6th edition, 124 pages, ISBN 3-89871-072-6 (BSH no. 2011)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c The WSA Stralsund traffic center in Warnemünde , Stralsund waterways and shipping office , accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Verkehrszentralen , ELWIS , accessed on July 13, 2019.
- ^ Revierzentralen , Directorate-General for Waterways and Shipping , accessed on August 2, 2018.
- ↑ International Maritime Organization : Vessel Traffic Services , accessed on December 21, 2018.
- ↑ Namio Mizuki Fujii Yahei: The Fourth Survey on Vessel Traffic Service in the World , Electronic Navigation Research Institute Papers 89., 1997
- ↑ German Coast Security Concept ( Memento of March 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration, p. 11, accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ German Coast Security Concept ( Memento of March 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration, p. 12, accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Hartmut Hilmer: We protect our coasts! The traffic control centers on the German coast. Annual report 2012 , Waterways and Shipping Directorate North , p. 42.
- ↑ Directive 2002/59 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 27, 2002 on the establishment of a community monitoring and information system for shipping and repealing Directive 93/75 / EEC of the Council
- ↑ The Chronicle of the Waterways and Shipping Office , Waterways and Shipping Office Bremerhaven , accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ a b Wolfhart Fabarius: 50 Years of Radar on the German Coast , Daily Port Report, September 7, 2015.
- ↑ a b Ems traffic center , waterways and shipping office Emden
- ↑ Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) Guide Germany , Appendix to Messages for Seafarers 31, August 5, 2016, ISBN 978-3-86987-722-8 .
- ↑ a b exchange pages for VTS Guide Germany 2016 , NfS 47/2017.
- ↑ a b We guarantee safety through traffic monitoring and traffic analysis, Brunsbüttel Waterways and Shipping Office, accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Simulation for the VTSS traffic control center , University of Wismar, accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Tom Dehmel, Max Dolberg, Uwe Gabert: 10 years of Vessel Traffic Service Simulator - experience in advanced and advanced training ( Memento from July 10, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), Between Weser and Ems 43, 2009, pp. 13-19, hdl : 20.500.11970 / 104975 .
- ↑ German-Dutch traffic safety system Ems , information sheet from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing , Directoraat-Generaal Rijkswaterstaat (Directie Noord-Nederland) and Emden Waterways and Shipping Office , 2002, accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Act on the contract of December 9, 1980 between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on joint information and advice for shipping in the mouth of the Ems by means of land radar and district radio systems (G-SIG: 09020166) , documentation and information system for parliamentary processes , accessed July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Verkehrszentrale , Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Wilhelmshaven , accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ The Bremerhaven Traffic Center , Waterways and Shipping Authority Bremerhaven , accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Verkehrszentrale Bremen , Waterways and Shipping Office Bremen , accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Verkehrszentrale , Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Cuxhaven , accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Verkehrszentrale Brunsbüttel , Waterways and Shipping Office Hamburg , accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ↑ Port Information Guide Hamburg 2018 , Hamburg Port Authority , p. 16.
- ↑ Maritime Shipping: Reporting Regulations for Sea Ships , Hamburg Port Authority, accessed on August 2, 2018.
- ↑ Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration: Inland Shipping Radio Manual, Regional Part Germany 2018 , p. 50ff.
- ↑ Verkehrszentrale Travemünde , Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Lübeck , accessed on July 9, 2018.
- ^ H. Dierken: New building of the traffic control center (VKZ) Travemünde In: Federal Institute for Hydraulic Engineering (BAW) (Ed.): The designed engineering structure - quality optimization in design and execution. Karlsruhe: Federal Institute for Hydraulic Engineering (BAW). Pp. 41-45.