The Waterways And Shipping Administration In Germany (WSV) Is Taking The Lead In Use Of Technology For Safer Marine Navigation

Aanderaa Data Instruments (AADI) and Nautilus Marine Service GmbH have received orders for delivery of 7 Data Buoys and 10 River Pile Stations totalling 180 SEAGUARD RCMs that are fitted with sensors for monitoring water flow (speed and direction), turbidity, salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen, as well as realtime data communication.

WSV, who is the regulating authority of all significant federal navigable waters including rivers, canals, locks and seaward approaches within the sovereign territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, is organized in 3 administrative levels:

• Ministry of Transport having the supreme authority
• 7 waterways and Shipping Directorates (WSD)
• 39 Waterways and Shipping Offices (WSA).

The two Waterways and Shipping Offices (WSA) Hamburg and Cuxhaven are predominantly competent and responsible for the accomplishment of the principal duties within its administrative district such as:

• Administration of the federal waterways Elbe as well as adjacent territorial Waters
• Providing the safety of navigation by: Maintenance of a deep shipping channel in the river Elbe, including sounding and dredging, buoys and lighthouses, operation of Vessel Traffic Centre (VTS), pilots, Navigation Permits Notices to Mariners, shipping police functions and more.
• Grant of permissions for installations and constructions, marine surveys, construction and maintenance of installations and operation of a buoy yard with all necessary work and repair as well as berths for the WSA fleet.

The delivery of the Data Buoys and the SEAGUARD RCM's comprises the modernization of hydrological measurement stations within the area of responsibility of the WSA Hamburg and the WSA Cuxhaven.

The Data Buoys are fitted with two SEAGUARDs each monitoring water flow, temperature, salinity, turbidity and oxygen at one meter above the river bed and near the surface just below the buoy. Data are transmitted in real-time from the buoy.

Further SEAGUARDs will be installed on pile based stations (picture). The same parameters as for the buoys will be measured approximately 2 meters and 4 meters above the river bed. As the Data Buoys also these stations will give Real-Time data.

One main purpose of collecting the data in real-time is to give input to live data models predicting the transport of sediments into the shipping channels.

The agreement includes links to a remote data transmission network, as well as a framework agreement for the supply of all in all 180 SEAGUARDs for the German Waterways and Shipping Directorates North and Northwest, that have beside the tidal part of the river Elbe responsibilities for waterways in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and in the estuaries Weser and Ems.

Nautilus Marine Services GmbH, who is AADI's representative in Germany, is the contractor with AADI as the supplier, as well as a strong partner in the commissioning of the project.

SOURCE: Aanderaa Data Instruments