All foreign yachts in Phuket 'will have to have AIS system'

[webfact]

All foreign yachts in Phuket 'will have to have AIS system'
Saran Mitrarat

The AIS systems on boats will be monitored from the Vessel Traffic Management Centre on Chalong Pier.

PHUKET: -- From October 1 all foreign-registered boats coming into or staying in Thai waters will be required to have Automatic Identification System (AIS) equipment installed.

The regulation is being introduced after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) commanded the Third Naval Area Command to organise boats and ships along the Andaman Coast and around islands offshore, from Ranong down to Satun.

The new regulation was announced in a Provincial Announcement signed by Governor Maitri Inthusut and released today (September 4) to the media.

“Phuket province is the center of maritime tourism on the Andaman coast,” the announcement stated. “There are numerous boats from foreign counties travelling for tourism around Phuket and neighbouring islands, which causes heavy water traffic congestion. Therefore the organisation of boats in the area needs to be enforced.

“[The systems must be installed] to follow the order of the NCPO and to accord with the installed Vessel Traffic and Management System (VTMS) of Phuket [on Chalong Pier] to control the security of water transportation, to prevent maritime accidents and to secure the waters’ stability to the utmost effectiveness and benefit.”

The announcement specifies that cruise boats, motor yachts and sailing yachts must install AIS Class B systems or higher, and the system must be turned on at all times.

Violations of the regulation, it warned, “will result in punishment according to the highest law.”

Phuripat Teerakulpisit, director of the Phuket Marine Office, said, “The cost of an AIS is about B20,000-30,000 depending on the specifications.

“Places where people can buy an AIS [in Phuket] will be announced after our next meeting on Wednesday [september 10],” he added. On that day, he said, he will also explain in detail how the regulation will be applied and to which boats.

AIS systems are used worldwide not only to control boats but also for collision avoidance, fishing fleet monitoring, traffic management, security, search and rescue, and accident investigation.

The technology has been compulsory worldwide since 2002 for all ferries and vessels over 300 tons, and the European Union is currently looking at making it compulsory for other vessels over a certain size.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/all-foreign-yachts-in-phuket-%E2%80%98will-have-to-have-ais-system%E2%80%99-48577.php


-- Phuket News 2014-09-05

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

"to prevent maritime accidents and to secure the waters’ stability to the utmost effectiveness and benefit.”

Sounds like BS to me, most accidents are caused by Thai vessels not foreign.

[slipperx]

Good idea but mandatory for Thai and foreign boats - especially for Thai boats actually

[KarenBravo]

Yes, good idea, but, should be all boats,Thai and foreign.

[cloudhopper]

This proposed law is not about safety and will never be enforced. If it's ever even implemented. IMO.

The Phuket Marine Office is incapable of even keeping inner Ao Chalong safely navigable.

[Boatfreak]

The only reason is to control the farangs and ensure we actually get so annoyed by their rules on Visa, AIS etc that we stay out of Thailand, that we stop critisizing the government and move to Cambodge, Vietnam, Myanmar or Indonesia so that they can again rule over their own people without disturbance. If "navigation" safety was really an issue why do they not implement the COLREG on the thousands of fishing boats with irregular navigation lights? http://online.wsj.com/articles/meet-the-new-richin-myanmar-1409756369

[stevenl]

Yes, good idea, but, should be all boats,Thai and foreign.

Judging from the article it will be mandatory for 'The announcement specifies that cruise boats, motor yachts and sailing yachts must install AIS Class B systems or higher, and the system must be turned on at all times.'.

I think this is again the usual sloppy and confusing reporting.

[NomadJoe]

Great, so now we can track all the fishing trawlers that routinely trawl in the marine sanctuaries and national parks. Or are we exempting them from these requirements for some strange reason?

[Don Aleman]

All 3 of my yachts have these and the 4th is in Hong Kong having the heliport painted !

[NomadJoe]

All 3 of my yachts have these and the 4th is in Hong Kong having the heliport painted !

So only one of your yachts has a heliport? Pathetic. What do you do when you want to fly from one yacht to another?

[Kooweerup]

So just those bloody foreigner's

I understand tourist are dragging the country down. Blame TAT with thier thainess promotion to attract more to the warm welcoming land

[madmitch]

I read the headline and thought the Shinawatra family was beginning to have influence again.

[toooa]

All 3 of my yachts have these and the 4th is in Hong Kong having the heliport painted !

Only 8 out of my 10 yachts have them. The other 2 are having all their navigating equipment upgraded and gold plated. Can't wait to see them....

[HUAHIN62]

Its not about safety its about trying to push out foreign operators.

[KarenBravo]

A good thing done with a bad motive is still a good thing.

[simon43]

As a point of interest, I 'host' the AIS receiver for marinetraffic.com which covers the sea area of north/north-western Phuket. I will currently upgrading my receiving system to extend coverage, (hence the intermittent availability right now...)

[demonboy]

There are numerous boats from foreign counties travelling for tourism around Phuket and neighbouring islands, which causes heavy water traffic congestion

Not the thousands of local fishing boats and ferries then?

We have a Class B transponder and it was on the whole time we sailed through thousands of Thai and Malay fishing boats when crossing over from the Maldives. Not one of them appeared on our AIS screen. The point being, it is half-hearted to make foreign pleasure vessels buy AIS but not enforce it across all vessels. We all share the same waters, after all, so therefore we should all be accountable. Most foreign yacht owners exercise safe seamanship etiquette; we run the correct lights at night for starters. Show me a local fishing boat that obeys international COLREGS and I'll eat my hat.

Whilst we feel we benefit from having AIS, enforcing it by using the argument foreign pleasure yachts create all the traffic is short-sighted and one-sided.

[pattjock]

So what happend ?

1st October has been, did everyone get their AIS installed or did this regulation just go away like most other regulations in Thailand?

[KarenBravo]

They do know that you need a radar to actually see AIS, right?

Even if the authorities are the only ones with a radar, how are they going to communicate with a particular vessel to issue instructions, or ask questions?

Many boats either don't have a radio and if they do, they will not be monitoring channel 16 (emergency), but are tuned to a frequency that they can talk to their office on.

The perceived benefits of AIS to actually make a difference is grossly exaggerated.

[mitsubishi]

"to prevent maritime accidents and to secure the waters’ stability to the utmost effectiveness and benefit.”

Sounds like BS to me, most accidents are caused by Thai vessels not foreign.

It is BS, they want to keep a big brother eye on johnny farang to track where you are.

The days of privacy and anonymity at sea (in LoS) are fading fast for independent boaters etc.

I know someone who wanted to get a boat in Thailand to sail about the GoT in. When he got to Surat Thani he was told he HAD to have a Thai National pilot/coxwain (could not be the farang) and a Thai National Engineer (I think in his case he was able to assign the Thai pilot). Plus cough up money to register them both with the boat!

Like a mug he bought the boat and all the trappings the Thais forced on him. He lost over half a million baht in the end plus the coxwain kept the boat! This was quite a few years ago too.

[cloudhopper]

They do know that you need a radar to actually see AIS, right?

Even if the authorities are the only ones with a radar, how are they going to communicate with a particular vessel to issue instructions, or ask questions?

Many boats either don't have a radio and if they do, they will not be monitoring channel 16 (emergency), but are tuned to a frequency that they can talk to their office on.

The perceived benefits of AIS to actually make a difference is grossly exaggerated.

You obviously don't know anything about AIS.

[KarenBravo]

They do know that you need a radar to actually see AIS, right?

Even if the authorities are the only ones with a radar, how are they going to communicate with a particular vessel to issue instructions, or ask questions?

Many boats either don't have a radio and if they do, they will not be monitoring channel 16 (emergency), but are tuned to a frequency that they can talk to their office on.

The perceived benefits of AIS to actually make a difference is grossly exaggerated.

You obviously don't know anything about AIS.

Please explain.....

If you don't have radar, you still need receivers and electronic charts and monitors. Radar is still the most common method of monitoring AIS. If no radar, it's unlikely they have the alternative equipment, either.

[starkey_rich]

There are numerous boats from foreign counties travelling for tourism around Phuket and neighbouring islands, which causes heavy water traffic congestion

Not the thousands of local fishing boats and ferries then?

We have a Class B transponder and it was on the whole time we sailed through thousands of Thai and Malay fishing boats when crossing over from the Maldives. Not one of them appeared on our AIS screen. The point being, it is half-hearted to make foreign pleasure vessels buy AIS but not enforce it across all vessels. We all share the same waters, after all, so therefore we should all be accountable. Most foreign yacht owners exercise safe seamanship etiquette; we run the correct lights at night for starters. Show me a local fishing boat that obeys international COLREGS and I'll eat my hat.

Whilst we feel we benefit from having AIS, enforcing it by using the argument foreign pleasure yachts create all the traffic is short-sighted and one-sided.

Welcome to Thailand.

The hub of the short- sighted and the one sided.

[cloudhopper]

They do know that you need a radar to actually see AIS, right?

Even if the authorities are the only ones with a radar, how are they going to communicate with a particular vessel to issue instructions, or ask questions?

Many boats either don't have a radio and if they do, they will not be monitoring channel 16 (emergency), but are tuned to a frequency that they can talk to their office on.

The perceived benefits of AIS to actually make a difference is grossly exaggerated.

You obviously don't know anything about AIS.

Please explain.....

If you don't have radar, you still need receivers and electronic charts and monitors. Radar is still the most common method of monitoring AIS. If no radar, it's unlikely they have the alternative equipment, either.

Sure. AIS is a system that broadcasts encoded over VHF the vessel's GPS-derived position, speed, COG etc and is commonly displayed on a chart plotter or other computerized video display that can calculate TCA etc. It has nothing whatever to do with radar, so "they" don't need a radar to actually see AIS reports as you stated in your post. In fact AIS is far superior to radar as far as collisions with other participating vessels are concerned and is cheaper and easier to use.

[KarenBravo]

OK, thanks.

[cloudhopper]

You're welcome. And sorry I was a bit rude with my first reply this morning.