Friday, June 14, 2013

Port of Oakland installs first maritime visibility sensor on West Coast

The Port of Oakland, in collaboration with local and federal agencies, installed a maritime visibility sensor at the Ben E. Nutter Terminal, run by Seaside Transportation Services and home to Evergreen Marine Corporation

The high tech sensor is a continuously operating visibility data collection platform that helps seafarers safely navigate the SF Bay in foggy or low visibility situations.

Oakland is the first port on the West Coast to implement FS11 Vaisala visibility sensor technology. Port of Oakland Jean Banker, acting maritime director, said, "One of the benefits of this new sensor technology is that it provides good data and consistent results without being dependent on human observation. The equipment is also designed to be operationally reliable even during the harshest weather." Mobile Bay, Alabama is the only other major port in the nation to install visibility sensors.

The installation is the completion of a two-year project that included the port, the San Francisco Harbor Safety Committee, U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, Marine Exchange of SF Bay, NOAA's National Weather Service Office Monterey and NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services.

The new visibility sensor is a part the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Ocean Service Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System. This system provides real-time water level, currents and meteorological data for navigation aid in twenty major ports and harbors across the country.


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