VTMS to Help Ensure Safe Passage for Tankers

Lockheed Martin Ocean, Radar & Sensor Systems (OR&SS) has completed final acceptance testing of its Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) in Valdez, Alaska. The project, valued at $1.2 million, will assist the USCG in helping to ensure safe passage for oil tanker ships passing through Prince William Sound into the Port of Valdez Bay to take on oil pumped from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. USCG concerns about Y2K compliance along with Prince William Sound's notoriety were equally important reasons for the initial OR&SS system to be put in place this year. The USCG plans to continue upgrading the capability of the Prince William Sound VTMS next year. The Sound was the site of an ecological disaster in March 1989 when Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil. Currently, oil tankers travel through the often-stormy seas of the Sound every 12 to 18 hours with progress tracked by radar and an automatic identification system upgraded by OR&SS. The system also keeps watch over the increasing number of cruise ships and fishing boats visiting the Sound. The Vessel Traffic Center located in the town of Valdez, a nearby radar site and a remote site located at the entrance of the Valdez Narrows passage complete the second major project undertaken by OR&SS for the USCG's Ports & Waterways Safety System (PAWSS). OR&SS will continue to assess and install as many as three systems a year for USCG-selected U.S. ports. The first PAWSS project was completed in the Port of New Orleans earlier this year.