China in campaign to impriove coastal water, inland waterways security

Published 20 June 2008

China has a long coast and many rivers and canals; there are about 200,000 boats and ship plowing these waters, the the Chinese authorities want them to be able to communicate more effectively with security and law enforcement; U.K. company helps

China is upgrading the security of its coastal waters and inland waterways. ath, U.K.-based SRT Marine Technology has received an order worth £0.5 million for its AIS Class B OEM receiver and transmitter system from electronics company  TCB in China. Chinese government agencies are using AIS to improve safety and security on inland waterways and near coastal regions. SRT estimates that China has more than 200,000 locally registered vessels that may be required to fit AIS by 2011. Simon Tucker, SRT’s group managing director, said: “AIS is truly a global standard and is being used by authorities around the world to improve maritime safety and security. Having already installed a sophisticated national network of base stations, China has become one of the leaders in this respect. TCB has been working with us for a number of years and we are confident that the combination of our advanced, low-cost technology and TCB’s powerful local market position will lead to further orders in the future. With a potential market of 200,000 units over the next three to four years China presents another large opportunity for us.”

SRT develops and manufactures core wireless technology and product solutions for homeland security communication, and maritime identification and tracking applications.