The $36 million installation and management contract was signed between Maritime Safety Queensland and AMSG in Brisbane earlier this month.

 

The system will help coordinate traffic at five Queensland ports, including the key LNG ports of Gladstone and along 3000km of the world's most sensitive sea lanes.

 

The contract to install the Vessel Traffic Services - Decision Support Tool has been awarded to Australian Maritime Systems Group.

 

The VST-DST will replace the REEFVTS shipping control system that has protected the Great Barrier Reef since 2004 and the five port control VTS systems at Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville, Gladstone and Hay Point.

 

About 4000 commercial vessels pass through the waters controlled by REEFVTS each year.

 

At the core of the VTS-DTS will be the V3000 traffic management and information system built by AMSG's long-time partner Saab and operated by 70 of the world's major ports including Rotterdam, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

 

The system will receive information from radar, closed-circuit TV, meteorological sensors and automatic identification system signals from ships via satellite or radio communications.

 

It is expected the VTS-DTS will significantly improve the speed, quality and breadth of information passing between ships and on-shore control centres. This should improve marine safety and the efficiency of Queensland's sea lanes.

 

It will also improve severe weather and cyclone resilience by allowing centres to take over each other's area of operations in the event of a natural disaster.

 

"Our system will give VTS operators the clearest and most up-to-date picture they have ever seen of shipping passing through the Great Barrier Reef," AMSG managing director John Sugarman said.

 

It will also help predict and warn of potential problems - enabling port authorities and captains to plan even safer journeys.

 

In April AMSG was awarded the contract to design and install a VTS system at Western Australia's Port Hedland, the world's largest bulk export port.

 

In June AMSG was awarded a contract by Chevron Australia to design and install a VTS system to manage shipping to and from the Gorgon Project on Barrow Island, 60km off the WA coast.