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Maritime Security Heightens Along Mississippi

From new bills passed by Congress to high-tech tracking equipment and increased opportunities for training, ports along the Mississippi are continuing to boost maritime security.

In hopes of preventing terrorists from attacking the nation’s ports, both the House and Senate voted in November to tighten security at all 361 of the United States’ maritime ports. Under the new security plans, workers will undergo background checks, ports must set up a security committee and ships need an automatic identification system (AIS) so they can be tracked while in U.S. waters.

AIS is an onboard transponder that gives continuous, real-time updates. It can either be installed in the ships or carried onboard by pilots to automatically identify ships, pilots and cargo. This high-tech equipment is superior to using radars and contacts from the vessel’s bridge and was developed as part of the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) that Crescent and NOBRA pilots help the Coast Guard provide.

The VTS system, which was spearheaded by Crescent River Port Pilot Capt. Douglas Grubbs, will function to enhance safety, efficiency and security along the Mississippi. In the future VTS will have the capabilities of offering traffic management, navigation assistance and navigation information, yet its function right now is to track all high-interest vessels in an effort to maintain maritime domain awareness.

The importance of VTS and AIS is evident through their inclusion in the recent Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, part of the Homeland Security Act. The Act outlines that AIS transponders must be installed on vessels operating in navigable U.S. waters by December 31, 2004. The Vessel Traffic Center operated by the Coast Guard in Canal Place will be fully capable of receiving information from the transponders by late summer 2003.

Also included in the Maritime Transportation Security Act is a “Limitation of Liability for Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service Pilots.” Under this section, any pilot on duty at a United States Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service is exempt from liability while providing information under the supervision of a Coast Guard officer.
To help pilots train for VTS, the University of New Orleans (UNO) offers a Team Coordination Training/Situational Assessment class. Coast Guard Training Coordinator George Petras teaches the two-day class.

“We’re trying to help the pilots be better prepared to fulfill their duties at the Vessel Traffic Center. The class will cover the fundamentals of the Lockhead Martin MTM100 integrated display system and other assessment tools needed when making waterways management decisions,” Petras said.

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