By David Ralph, Chief Executive, Haven Gateway

WHILE our port operators focus on providing berths, cranes, stevedoring, ondock storage and a wide range of added value services to the world’s shipping lines, Harwich Haven Authority has statutory responsibility for overseeing all commercial shipping within the estuary and harbour – as well as in an area extending 12 nautical miles from the harbour entrance out to sea, adding up to a total area of jurisdiction of 150 square miles.

Needless to say, everyone wants to be in the right place at the right time, safety and efficiently. Tight schedules and sensitive cargoes are the everyday reality – time is money, and that’s even truer in difficult economic times.

So how is all this coordinated? Through HHA’s Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) system, which is rather like air traffic control on the water.

HHA was at the forefront of formal VTS implementation in the UK and Europe when it went live with its first VTS operations centre in 1999 … and 12 years on, it has just completed a £1.5 million upgrade which keeps it at the forefront of the industry.

The upgrade has delivered the very latest traffic monitoring and management technology, and an innovative after-care contract with Signalis provides for the continual update of the new system, to ensure that any improvements and innovations developed by the provider are implemented.

HHA has also completed a major upgrade of its internal and external communications system, and a complete redesign of its operations room, in order to accommodate the new VTS and communications equipment.

The VTS upgrade was officially opened by Harwich MP Bernard Jenkin, and on the same day Baroness Jenkin named the second of HHA’s new £1 million state-of-the-art pilot launches, the St Christopher.

About half of the annual 15,000-plus vessel transits through Harwich Harbour are required to have an authorised pilot on board; as HHA chief executive Stephen Bracewell explained, an integral part of the pilotage service provided by HHA is the availability of approved pilot launches and qualified crews capable of operating in a wide range of sea, swell and other weather conditions, on a 24/7 basis. Two more launches are on order at Holyhead Marine.

Yes, these are difficult times; but it’s great to see significant and important investment continuing in our ports and shipping sector. We saw the opening of Felixstowe’s new deepwater Berths 8&9 in September, an investment which means that this is the only port in the UK currently able to accommodate the 18,000 teu ships now being built by Maersk Line.

HHA has already demonstrated the capability to accommodate and handle these vessels in the harbour.

And Stephen Bracewell told guests at the opening/naming ceremony: “The Haven Ports cannot and will not be complacent. Even now we at the Authority are in the early stages of evaluating the need and possible extent and timing of a further channel deepening.”