The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways on 7th December 2021 has published the “Draft Marine Aids to Navigation (Vessel Traffic Services) Rules, 2021” and has invited Objections or suggestions, from the public which shall be addressed to the Director General, Directorate of Lighthouses and Lightships, Ministry of Ports Shipping and Waterways, A-13, Sector 24, Noida – 201301, or by email at noida-dgll@nic.in, within the period of 30 days.
The object of this rule is to enhance the safety and efficiency of vessel traffic and to mitigate the risk of damage caused to the marine environment by vessel traffic by ensuring homogeneous platform and compliance of various national and international rules, regulations and guidelines for all the VTSs functional within the country.
The following types of services shall be rendered under vessel Traffic Services (VTS)
- Information Service (INS) shall be provided by all VTS providers / coastal VTS, which involves maintaining a traffic image and allows interaction with traffic and response to developing traffic situations, providing essential and timely marine information to assist the onboard decision-making process.
- Traffic Organisation Service (TOS)shall prevent the development of dangerous maritime situation and shall provide for safe and efficient movement of vessel traffic within the declared VTS area, in times of high traffic density or when vessel movements may affect the traffic flow, through operational management of traffic and the planning of vessel movements.
- Navigational Assistance Service (NAS) shall provide essential and timely navigational information to assist on-board navigational decision-making process, which may be facilitated through navigational advice and / or instruction.
- A VTS shall be operated using Standard Marine Communication Phrases in English.
- For efficient and flawless operation of a VTS Centre, the respective VTS provider shall mandatorily develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for VTS operations including contingency plan, in consultation with the Competent Authority, and the SOP once finalised shall be circulated to all the stakeholders by the VTS provider.
The master of a vessel participating in VTS shall give report/reports to the concerned VTS provider or any required information, including but not limited to the identity, intended passage or geographical location of the vessel.
