GUARDIAN REDUCES COSTS AND ENHANCES PROTECTION AT GERALTDON PORT
The Mid West Port Authority is responsible for facilitating trade through, and the safe and efficient operation of the Port of Geraldton in West Australia. There are 25 anchorage zones that ships are directed to as they queue to enter the port. With Geraldton Port handling millions of tons of trade each year, vessels are competing for berths and the port was potentially liable for incorrect allocations.
In addition to this, weather systems cause conditions to change very quickly in the area, with anchors sometimes dragging in the shallow water. This presented a serious risk of vessels running aground.
A further challenge for the Mid West Port Authority was physical lights on channel markers occasionally failing.
To address each of these three challenges, the MWPA has deployed Guardian:protect. A perimeter line of port limits was established with exact vessel arrival time logged using their AIS position, creating a clear berthing priority.
Guardian automatically detects if a ship is dragging outside their anchor area toward the shallow shoreline, in which case a proactive alert is sent to the vessel, the pilot and the Harbourmaster.
If a channel marker light fails or if a navigation aid drifts from its location or is removed for repair, a Virtual Aid to Navigation (VAtoN) can be quickly and easily created to provide ongoing and continuous navigational aids.
“Guardian has improved safety, reduced costs and eliminated liability for berthing priorities. Deciding to implement Guardian was easy because it’s a very cost-effective solution”.
– Shannon Nicholson, Deputy Harbour Master/Marine Pilot, Port of Geraldton
Guardian will provide a number of benefits to MWPA.
- Enhanced safety for personnel entering and leaving the port.
- VAtoNs serve as a redundancy for channel marker lights with immediate implementation.
- No groundings have occurred since implementing Guardian.
- Reduced costs of monitoring personnel and the risk of human error.
- Eliminated liability claims on the port for incorrect berthing priority
- Very cost-effective solution
