MISAMIS Oriental ― The Philippine Coast Guard has installed an enhanced radar system at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Tagoloan town to monitor incoming and outgoing vessels in Macajalar Bay, a deep-water bay in the province of Misamis Oriental.
Philippine Coast Guard Vice Admiral Edgar Ybanez said the radar system or Vessel Tracking Monitoring System can detect the vessels through their Automatic Identification System (AIS), a shipboard broadcast system that automatically transmits the vessel’s identification, position, course, and speed.
“This system helps avoid vessel collision, coordinate search and rescue, and can monitor up to 36 nautical miles of Macajalar Bay,” Ybanez said.
Ybanez said the Vessel Tracking Monitoring System is the first of its kind that would be installed in the port of Mindanao.
He said once the ship’s AIS is detected by their radar, their position would be monitored from the system’s Electronic Chart Display until the vessel will leave the area.
Phividec Administrator Lawyer Joseph Donato Bernedo welcomed the installation of the radar system saying it would help them monitor all 15 ports operated by their concessionaires in their 3,000-hectare industrial estate in the towns of Tagoloan and Villanueva ad Misamis Oriental.
Bernedo said they are expecting an increase in vessel traffic with the construction of an additional berth in the estate.
He said the last radar system installed at their port was a donation by Japan International Cooperation Agency and it had already conked out in 2008.
“With this new enhanced radar system, we will know where the vessels have parked, and who is coming and going out of our ports,” Bernedo said.
