“Dangan” Monitoring Station Commissioned; Guangzhou’s Indigenous VTS System Further Expanded

　　On April 8, the "Dangan" monitoring station of the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration Ship Traffic Management Center (hereinafter referred to as "Guangzhou VTS Center") was officially put into operation, marking a critical step in the regulatory expansion project for the core waters of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Relying on the technical support of the nation's first fully domestically developed Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) system, this monitoring station will achieve normalized and precise regulation of complex waters such as the Dangan Channel and Wailingding, laying a solid safety foundation for the high-quality development of shipping in the Greater Bay Area.

　　The Pearl River Estuary, as the maritime traffic hub of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is one of the world's most densely trafficked and complex navigational waters, with an average daily vessel traffic exceeding 5,000 trips. It serves as the core for cross-border logistics and passenger transportation in the Greater Bay Area. For high-speed passenger ferries alone between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, the daily average exceeds 200 trips, and during peak periods such as the Spring Festival travel season and summer island tourism, it surpasses 400 trips per day. The Dangan Channel's second alert zone for directional navigation connects with Hong Kong's Dongbo Liao directional navigation segment, making the navigational environment and traffic flow even more complex. The activation of the "Dangan" monitoring station will enable normalized VTS monitoring of the Dangan Channel's directional navigation system, major public coastal routes in Guangdong, and recommended fishing vessel routes in the Dangan waters. According to the plan, the expansion will focus on the Dangan and Wailingding waters, increasing the total regulatory area to over 2,300 square kilometers, significantly expanding the original scope. The expanded area will prioritize the safety of high-speed passenger ferries, cross-border cargo ships, and liquefied gas vessels traveling between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau.

　　In the past, the construction of coastal VTS systems in China relied on foreign technology, posing potential risks to core equipment and data security. This situation was completely changed in 2023—the Pearl River Estuary VTS system upgrade project passed its acceptance inspection, and the nation's first fully domestically developed VTS system, adapted to high-traffic and extremely complex navigational environments, was officially implemented, breaking the monopoly of foreign technology. The system adopts a "19 stations, 2 centers" architecture, integrates the latest radar signal processing technology, and successfully overcomes industry challenges such as stable multi-target tracking and multi-source data fusion display. Its comprehensive performance has reached an advanced international level, with some core indicators surpassing similar foreign products, providing a replicable and promotable "Guangzhou model" for nationwide maritime VTS technology upgrades. Guangzhou VTS Center Director Feng Suoqi told reporters that after achieving full-chain domestic substitution, the system not only resolved the "bottleneck" issue of core technology but also significantly enhanced compatibility with domestic radars, improving transmission quality and operational efficiency.

　　With technological innovation, the Pearl River Estuary waters have achieved seamless coverage of radar, Very High Frequency (VHF), and Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals, meeting the full-chain regulatory goals of "visible, responsive, and manageable." Since the launch of the domestically developed system, the Guangzhou VTS Center has issued over 750,000 safety reminders and conducted more than 25,000 traffic management operations, with the incidence of maritime traffic accidents in its jurisdiction continuing to decline. This has provided safety assurance for the annual 1.5 billion tons of port throughput and 75 million TEU container transport in the Greater Bay Area.

　　"With the expansion progressing, the dynamic tracking capabilities of the Pearl River Estuary VTS have been further enhanced. Key vessels such as cargo ships and liquefied gas ships that were previously outside the VTS regulatory coverage area and entering or leaving Hong Kong will now be fully included in the regulatory scope of the Guangzhou VTS Center," Feng Suoqi explained to reporters. This will not only effectively fill the maritime regulatory blind spots in the core waters of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area but also significantly improve the precision of cross-border logistics chain management and the speed of maritime emergency response in the Greater Bay Area. It will further strengthen the "lifeline" of shipping in the Greater Bay Area and inject greater momentum into the interconnected maritime traffic and collaborative development of the shipping economy in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.