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All ships passing through the Straits of Malacca will use electronic charts
that are being developed under the Marine Electronic Highway (MEH)
demonstration project for the Malacca Straits sanctioned by the
International Maritime Organisation.
After several years of discussion, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore finally
signed a Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) to implement the demonstration
project.
The demonstration project should ultimately ensure that new large scale
official electronic chart charts (ENCs) are developed for the region, all
passing ships have chart display equipment (ECDIS), and ships are provided
with good information about weather, tides and current, as well as temporary
hazards and hazards which might not be marked on the charts (such as
wrecks).
The project has received strong support from shipowner associations
Intertanko and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
The associations agreed that there will be at least 200 ships with official
electronic chart display equipment (ECDIS) to participate in the project.
Intertanko says it expects navigation safety in the region to be
“significantly enhanced” as a result.
The World Bank/ Global Environment Fund has agreed to contribute US$8m to
the project that was held back for several years until it had the firm
commitment of both the neighbouring countries and the shipping industry.
The agreement of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore governments was secured
at the meeting the IMO meeting in Jakarta in September 2005.
Intertanko has committed a further US$8m “in kind”, including the investment
that Intertanko members make in electronic chart display equipment.
Intertanko will be encouraging its members to participate in the scheme, and
fit official electronic chart display equipment in their vessels.
According to DigitalShip major resurveying is the Straits is now expected to
start that will begin with the setting up of a project office in Batam,
Indonesia and followed by setting up a steering committee (which shipowner
associations will participate in).
The resurveying is likely to be done by local hydrographic offices.
By the fourth year of the project all vessels should have electronic chart
systems and accurate information about the depth and topography of the
Straits, as well as real time data on tides and currents.
The financing for light buoys in the Malacca Straits is already covered by
the Nippon foundation of Japan.
Over the long term, it is possible that the scheme could be extended from
the Persian Gulf as far as Japan, and used as a template for a similar
scheme in Burope (from Gibraltar to the Baltic Sea).
The initiative has been in the planning stage for something like ten years,
originally growing from an IMO initiative. |
