The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has inaugurated the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) first Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) in Cebu that is expected to enhance the maritime traffic accident prevention capability of the agency.
The VTMS is composed of a control center and three radar stations located at the headquarters of the Coast Guard District Central Visayas in Talisay, Bantolinao, and Interbridge designed to provide full coverage of vessel movements and prevent maritime traffic accidents along the Cebu-Mactan Channel.
PCG in a statement said the Port of Cebu, one of the largest ports in the Philippines and a maritime hub in the Visayan region, has one of the busiest maritime traffic conditions in the country.
The installation of VTMS in Cebu had been strongly pushed since 2Go Travel’s M/V St. Thomas Aquinas and Sulpicio Lines’ (now Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp.) M/V Sulpicio Express Siete collided in 2013, sinking the former and leaving 55 passengers dead and 65 others missing.
The VTMS is one of the components of the Project for the Enhancement of Coastal Communications System under the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s official development assistance amounting to JPY1.152 billion (P564.467 million).
It combines advanced navigation and communication systems in implementing vessel traffic services (VTS) intended to improve the safety of life at sea and the efficiency of vessel traffic management, and to protect the environment.
The launch of the VTMS project is also in accordance with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Resolution A.857(20), which calls for adopting its guidelines in vessel traffic services and in recruitment, qualifications, and training of vessel traffic system operators. The Philippines is a member of the IMO.
