By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - The United States wants all ships to keep their tracking transponders on to cut down on illicit activity and smuggling, and to increase transparency with movements of ships around the world, a senior State Department official told Reuters. Automatic identification systems trackers are the most accessible way of observing … [Read more...]
LNG Carrier Collides with VLCC Off Fujairah, UAE – AIS Animation
A Shipping Corporation of India LNG carrier collided with a very large crude carrier at a Fujairah anchorage in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday evening, resulting a major damage to the oil tanker. AIS video of the accident shows the 155,000 cbm, Maltese-flagged LNG carrier Aseem struck the port side of the 281,400 dwt, Hong Kong-flagged Shinyo Ocean as … [Read more...]
Watch: AIS Animation Shows Just How Close the Viking Sky Cruise Ship Came to Disaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy7J8JvIcjw An animation of the Viking Sky's AIS ship tracking shows just how close the cruise came to disaster after losing power along the west coast of Norway on Saturday. The ship had almost 1,400 passengers and crew on board when it suffered engine failure as it sailed in stormy weather in the Hustadvika, an infamous … [Read more...]
AIS Problems Revealed in East China Sea
By Laura Kovary (Environmental Maritime Services) - Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) are causing problems for mariners transiting waters where there are high concentrations of fishing vessels, particularly in the East China Sea. The issue is not the fault of the AIS but the inappropriate use of the technology. Local fisherman discovered that by putting AIS … [Read more...]
SpaceX Rocket Carries New Cubed Satellites That Will Hunt ‘Dark Ships’
By Kyle Stock (Bloomberg) -- If all goes as planned with the scheduled SpaceX launch Sunday, a startup called HawkEye 360 will have a trio of satellites resembling toaster ovens circling the globe, scanning for pirate radio. The Washington-area company is one of 35 paying customers strapped to the top of the Falcon 9 rocket, a crowd of cosmic enterprises boldly pushing the … [Read more...]