The Challenges of Bringing a Twenty-Five year Old VTS Facility into the 21st Century

摘要

The Western Coast of Canada extends some 27000 km from southern Alaska to the northern border of the State of Washington. This region includes numerous waterways and passages which make there way through thousands of rocky islands and along a very rugged coastal terrain. These waterways carry a significant amount of shipping for Western Canada and the North Western United States. Large commercial vessels transit the Strait of Juan de Fuca (approx. 50 by 15 km), between Vancouvery Island and Washington providing freight links to the west coast of the hemisphere as well as to Asia. Cruise ships depart both Seattle and Vancouver for regular summer schedules to Alaska via the "inside passage" and the Western U.S.Logging is a significant industry in Western Canada with slow moving "log-tows" a frequent user of the Straits of Georgia. In addition there is very significant ferry traffic as well as commercial fishing interests, pleasure boating and both the US and Canadian Navies.