The new vessel traffic centre (VTS) for North Norway will be opened today in Vardø by State Secretary Vidar Ulriksen of the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. “The new vessel traffic centre will monitor and guide shipping traffic along the coast of North Norway and will substantially help to improve maritime safety in northern areas,” Ulriksen says. The vessel traffic centre will also play a key role in Norway’s maritime safety cooperation with Russia.

In recent years the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs has promoted a number of measures to improve maritime safety in northern areas and to meet the challenges that follow from the increase in oil-related traffic in the north. “Vardø Vessel Traffic Centre is a key element in efforts to develop an integrated system for monitoring shipping traffic in the north,” Ulriksen says.

With the aid of land-based AIS receivers (Automatic Identification System, a system used for ships), the vessel traffic managers will be able to monitor and direct vessels out to approx. 30 nautical miles from shore. The vessel traffic centre will thus be able to monitor whether larger tankers and cargo vessels comply with the rules regarding the new traffic lanes outside of Norwegian territorial waters that will be in force from July 2007.

Since shipping traffic is now being moved farther from the coast and will be monitored from the new vessel traffic centre, this will give the authorities more time, better enabling them to take necessary action if a vessel should get into trouble.

Vardø VTS is also intended to play a key role in expanded cooperation with Russia in the areas of maritime safety and contingency planning for combating oil spills. Norway and Russia have concluded an agreement to establish a joint Norwegian-Russian vessel traffic management information system, Barents VTMIS. The vessel traffic centres in Vardø and Murmansk are to function as key information nodes for shipping traffic in the north.