The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : All lighthouses to have automatic identification system

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 28, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

All lighthouses to have automatic identification system

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 27. All lighthouses in the country will soon be provided with an "automatic identification system" (AIS) at a total cost of Rs. 100 crores, the Shipping Minister, T.R. Baalu, said today.

Inaugurating a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) at the lighthouse at Pulicat, about 56 km north of Chennai, he said the facility (a modern aid to navigation) was now available only in ships and not in lighthouses. India was a signatory to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreement and the AIS should be provided in lighthouses too.

Tracing how lighthouses once used logfires to guide ships, later switched to petroleum-lit source of lighting and the modern lighthouses which use radio waves and GPS (global positioning system), Mr. Baalu said there were at present 167 lighthouses along the country's coast, of which 40 functioned automatically. More lighthouses, especially on the Tamil Nadu coast are to come up for the benefit of fishermen. Four lighthouses were being established now in the Palk Bay so that Tamil Nadu fishermen did not cross the international boundary line and face unnecessary harassment from Sri Lankan forces. The Ministry was also working on a policy for developing the maritime sector that would facilitate cost-effective movement of cargo by the development of efficient infrastructure.

The Joint Secretary, Shipping Ministry, Susheel Kumar, said that at present the DGPS had been provided in 22 lighthouses.

The Director-General of Lighthouses and Lightships, Manmohan Singh Suman, said the more accurate the systems were, the better the confidence was in mariners.

A. Krishnasamy and C. Kuppusamy, MPs, and A.S. Kannan, MLA, spoke.

The DGPS would augment mariners' safety, mainly ships and vessels that approach the Ennore port. With the inauguration of the system, mariners could precisely fix their position as to where they were to a correction of 5 metres, could be warned of a shoal around Pulicat and to take corrective navigation measures for a safe voyage.

T.E. Swittens, head light keeper, Light House, Chennai, said ships would be able to know their positions more accurately now. The instrument would send GPS corrected value signals.

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