Sea shipping already makes intensive use of onboard transponders. These devices continuously
broadcast essential data about the ship, including its location, destination, cargo and crew complement.
In a few years, all European inland shipping vessels will be required to carry a similar transponder.
Implementation of this technology will be an important step towards modernising inland shipping logistics.
The AIS (Automatic Identification System) was long regarded as an affront to the privacy of skippers and
their families. A whopping 80 per cent of northwestern European inland shipping companies are
family-owned businesses - businesses run by a man and his wife, with the kids often helping out. While
this is one of the industry's strengths, it is also a weakness.
Starting in 2012, AIS will be required on ships of all types entering the Port of Rotterdam.
Photo MGR
Children need to attend school, and any tensions within a marriage have immediate repercussions
on the business. On the other hand, 'employees' always put in their best efforts and the means
of production (i.e. the ship) are cherished as personal effects.
The legal requirement to carry an AIS transponder on board met with resistance for years because of these
privacy concerns. Nowadays, however, most skippers realise that its introduction is inescapable, if only
because the seaports - Rotterdam and more recently Antwerp - have announced that soon (in Antwerp
starting 2011, Rotterdam in 2012) ships without AIS will no longer be welcome.
Swift and safe
A transponder continuously broadcasting essential data offers waterway and port operators a
comprehensive overview of shipping traffic, therefore making it easier to handle its flow swiftly and safely.
International agreements - ratified by the European Commission - stipulate that the costs of purchasing
transponders for skippers will largely be borne by their governments.
The fact that skippers have embraced transponders became evident in October 2009 when the Dutch
directorate-general for public works and water management recently gave away 895 of them free.
Two days after the announcement in a trade newspaper, more than one thousand skippers had
applied for one. Inland AIS transponders will only transmit data for the identification of the ship and its
location. At the industry's express request the broadcasts will not contain any information that might be deemed private.
The ultimate goal is for all ships making professional use of inland waterways and other watercraft over
20 metres in length to carry a transponder. The system can also be linked to an electronic map and
an inland ship's onboard radar. AIS can then supply the skipper with valuable information about the ships
surrounding him. This makes the behaviour of other skippers more predictable and waterways safer.
Starting in 2012, AIS will be required on ships of all types entering the Port of Rotterdam.
