- All vessels in Singapore's port, including speedboats,
tugboats and other harbour craft, will soon be fitted with a device to
let the authorities track their movements.
-
- Currently, vessels appear as radar blips on the screens
at the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's (MPA) port operations
control centre in Tanjong Pagar, but it has to radio them to find out their
identities.
-
- Tests on a prototype transponder, which automatically
sends signals that identify the vessel and its position, started 10 months
ago and are, expected to end this month.
-
- The new device will be fitted in phases on all 3,100
vessels currently registered with the MPA, including 1,900 pleasure craft.
-
- When the work was completed, an unidentified harbour
craft would stick out like a sore thumb and be investigated, said the MPA.
-
- The measure will go some way towards guarding against
terrorists who may hijack small high-speed boats and pack them with explosives,
like those which rammed a United States warship in 2000 and a French oil
tanker in 2002, both off Yemen.
-
- Singapore's crackdown on the Jemaah Islamiah in 2002
also revealed preliminary plans for suicide attacks on US naval vessels
calling here.
-
- Still, the cost of the device - and who will pay for
it - is an issue the maritime industry is concerned about.
-
- A spokesman for Tian San Shipping, a major operator of
passenger and vehicular ferry services here, with a fleet of more than
50 harbour craft, said it was necessary to know what the capital cost would
be as well as the running costs.
-
- The device costs about S$800 (RM16,160). - The Straits
Times/ Asia News Network
- <http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/1/25/asia/7172424&sec=asia>
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