St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation

Intent of Implementing AIS in Seaway Waters Effective March 25, 2003

November 6, 2002

General

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to section 57 of the Canada Marine Act, that effective March 25,2003, The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation will implement mandatory carriage of AIS in Seaway waters. The carriage requirements for AIS equipment will be as follows:

Automated Identification System.

1. Each of the following vessels must use an Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder to transit the Seaway:
   1. each vessel that requires pre-clearance in accordance with Section 22 of the Seaway Practices and Procedures and has a 300 gross tonnage or greater, has a Length Over All (LOA) over 20 meters, or carries more than 50 passengers for hire.
   2. each dredge, floating plant, or towing vessel over 8 meters in length, except only each lead unit of combined and multiple units (tugs and tows).
2. Each vessel listed in subsection (a) of this section must meet the following requirements to transit the Seaway:
   1. International Maritime Organization (IMO) Resolution MSC.74(69), Annex 3, Recommendation on Performance Standards for a Universal Shipborne AIS, as amended;
   2. International Telecommunication Union, ITU-R Recommendation M.1371-1: 2000, Technical Characteristics For A Universal Shipborne AIS Using Time Division Multiple Access In The VHF Maritime Mobile Band, as amended;
   3. International Electrotechnical Commission, IEC 61993-2 Ed.1, Maritime Navigation and Radio Communication Equipment and Systems -AIS – Part 2: Class A Shipborne Equipment of the Universal AIS – Operational and Performance Requirements, Methods of Test and Required Test Results, as amended;
   4. International Maritime Organization (IMO) Guidelines for Installation of Shipborne Automatic Identification System (AIS), NAV 48/18, 2 April 2002, as amended, and for ocean vessels only, with a pilot plug, as specified in Section 3.2 of those Guidelines, installed close to the primary conning position in the navigation bridge and a standard 120 Volt, AC, 3-prong power receptacle (NEMA 5-15R) accessible for the pilot’s laptop computer; and
   5. Computation of AIS position reports using differential GPS corrections from the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards’ maritime Differential Global Positioning System radiobeacon services.
   6. The use of portable AIS is permissible.

All comments must be submitted to The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation’s Director, Marine and Operational Services within 30 calendar days from the date of this Notice.
Fax : 1-613- 932-7286.