Transas Marine UK Upgrades Coastal Surveillance System

Sea Technology, Feb 2008

Last fall, Transas Marine UK Ltd. (Portsmouth, England) engineers upgraded a marine surveillance system operated by Siminn (Reykjavik, Iceland) at Vestmanneyjar Island, Iceland.

Siminn originally installed a Transas Navi-Harbour system in August 2002. Since then, it has provided nonstop monitoring of the sea area above and around the strategically important submarine cable, which links Iceland with the transatlantic cable between Europe and North America.

Prior to the use of the Transas system, the cable had suffered serious damage on several occasions through incorrect fishing and anchoring operations, resulting in repairs often running into millions of dollars.

Though short (about 35 nautical miles), the Icelandic segment of the cable passes through the main fishing area around Vestmanneyjar.

Thus, supervision of the submarine cable area is essential to prevent its damage by fishing trails, the company said.

The system is built upon a standard Navi-Harbour vessel traffic system (VTS), including one VTS radar processor connected to a BridgeMaster-E radar and one remote operator station with all system controls and data display.

Set up for fully automated performance, an operator on watch at the coastal radio station is notified when a vessel, tracked by radar and an automatic identification system, is on course to breach the at-risk area.

The first alarm is generated 10 minutes before the vessel will reach the waters directly above the cable.

The alarm repeats when the vessel crosses this zone at a speed of less than five knots.

The BridgeMaster-E radar antenna is installed next to a lighthouse in the southern part of Heimaey Island, Iceland, 128 meters above sea level. It provides reliable detection of medium-sized vessels at up to 30 nautical miles distance, thus covering the entire cable area where the sea depth makes cable damage possible.

The eight-foot antenna array also provides an excellent visual reminder to passing vessels that the underwater assets are being monitored.