Marine Traffic Control in the Panama Canal

Abstract

The Panama Canal Company's Marine Traffic Control is being designed primarily to minimize ships' average transit-time and obtain optimum use of Canal facilities, but it also includes features contributing to collision prevention. It prepares an operation schedule consistent with the number and characteristics of ships that are in transit and with operating conditions. Actual operation is continuously monitored and signals currently displayed to pilots to facilitate close adherence to the schedule. If the contemplated schedule is cancelled, as by trouble in locks or sudden periods of poor visibility, re-scheduling is rapidly formed and signals transmitted to pilots in conformity with the new schedule.

The system's contribution to collision prevention includes elimination of several hazardous situations: (a) Undue crowding of traffic; (b) Lock-entrance stand-off delays due to untimely ship arrival, during which ship handling is difficult; (c) Meets or overtakes at potentially hazardous locations.

Further, when approaching a bend on which other ships would not be visible and at which the meet would be hazardous, a pilot is advised of the number of ships which will be round the bend before he reaches it. Also indicated is the number of meets due to occur immediately beyond the bend, a distance through which the manœuvrability of his ship would be affected by the manner in which he rounds the bend. The automatically operating system is based on transmission of data comprising ships' identities and locations to a central control point where the data is analysed by an electronic computer and from which advisory signals are automatically transmitted back to the ships.