News

Port of Liverpool safety boost thanks to £1.6m investment

For Immediate Release - 22 May, 2009

New radio communications system assists management of vessel traffic.

A £1.6m upgrade of port operating systems including new intelligent radio communications has been undertaken at the Port Of Liverpool to improve safety and efficiency around what is one of the UK's busiest ports.

Radio communications specialist Northwest Radio devised the technology to assist in the management of vessel traffic. It will be operated by the Port's 10-strong Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) team, led by manager Paul Clay, which is responsible for an area which includes the Port, River Mersey and the Port approaches.

The new £60,000 radio system upgrade allows VTS to supply a range of services to ships, from the provision of simple radio communications to extensive management of traffic within the port or waterway. It forms part of an overall £1.6m upgrade of operating systems at the port.

Paul Clay, VTS Manager at the Port of Liverpool, said: "Our mandate is very simple. VTS contributes to safety of life at sea, safety and efficiency of navigation, and protection of the marine environment.

"This system allows us to do exactly that by giving us the ability to speak with incoming vessels over a wide area and record all voice communication. It also has to be incredibly fine-tuned because of all the differing standards of radio equipment on board some international vessels. But it is extremely efficient in managing all these vital tasks while maintaining reliability and, above all, being very user-friendly.

"Another major asset at the Port is the fact we have three pilot stations and this system almost guarantees we can get a pilot to a station at any given time."

The Port of Liverpool is one of the busiest ports in the UK. It is a gateway to trade from North America and more than 100 other non-EU destinations. In addition the Port of Liverpool sees nearly 750,000 people per year travelling on Irish Sea ferry services and cruise ships.

The new radio system, which is also used at Southampton and Dover, is equipped with seven radio PC consoles with large touch screen monitors and ten Icom repeaters to provide the necessary radio coverage. The system spreads its web across five locations via microwave links and fibre optics. A dual network path was installed to cater for the necessary bandwidth required by the new radio system and CCTV cameras.

The system covers the locks in Gladstone and Langton (which are controlled remotely from the central base), the Liverpool Grain Silo at the port, Lynas on the North Welsh coast and the Manchester Ship Canal.

Paul Benson, technical director of Northwest Radio, said: "This was a challenge to implement due to the requirements of the port. We enjoyed working closely with Paul Clay in order to ascertain his requirements. The system was swapped over from the old system without any major problems. Training was given to all operators over several shifts to ensure a smooth changeover."

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