ZAGREB, Dec 6 (Hina) - On the Day of St. Nicholas, 6 December, thepatron saint of seamen, the Automatic Identification System (AIS) waslaunched in the renovated offices of the national headquarters for theco-ordination of search and
rescue operations at sea. The headquartersis located in the northern Croatian coastal city of Rijeka.
ZAGREB, Dec 6 (Hina) - On the Day of St. Nicholas, 6 December, the
patron saint of seamen, the Automatic Identification System (AIS) was launched
in the renovated offices of the national headquarters for the co-ordination of
search and rescue operations at sea. The headquarters is located in the
northern Croatian coastal city of Rijeka. Three years ago, the
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) introduced the AIS as a shipboard
broadcast system which functions as a transponder operating in the VHF maritime
band and is capable of handling well over 4,500 reports per minute and updates
as often as every two seconds.
The Croatian Sea and Tourism Ministry began applying the AIS system in
the Croatian part of the Adriatic earlier this year. The base stations, set up
on the island of Vis and on the lighthouse in Savudrija Bay, are connected with
the operations centre in the seaport of Rijeka.
The second stage of introduction of AIS base stations in Croatia's
territorial waters is to ensue next year.