The mandatory of onboard transponder technology in the shipping industry is nearly completed. The shore-based infrastructure, which receives and processes data related to ship traffic has been developed to the point that all AIS stations have antennas which cover all German waters spanning the German North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts. Figure 1 shows the number of different MMSI-no. of ships traffic in the observation area. The data were collected from March 2003 up to now. The regulation requires the Automatic Identification System (AIS) to be fitted aboard all ships of 300 gross tonnage and upwards engaged on international voyages, cargo ships of 500 gross tonnage and upwards not engaged on international voyages and all passenger ships irrespective of size. The requirement became effective for all ships on 31 December 2004.
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