Vessel monitoring system installed at MisOr industrial estate

TAGOLOAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 29 March) – An enhanced radar system that monitors incoming and outgoing vessels in Macajalar Bay in Misamis Oriental has been installed by the Philippine Coast Guard at the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Tagoloan town.

Coast Guard personnel unload boxes containing parts of the Vessel Traffic and Monitoring System from M/V Tubbataha on Friday, 28 March 2025. The radar system, installed at the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, tracks ships entering and exiting Macajalar Bay. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO

PCG Vice Admiral Edgar Ybañez said the Vessel Traffic and Monitoring System (VTMS) can detect vessels through their Automatic Identification System or AIS, a shipboard broadcast system that automatically transmits the vessel’s identification, position, course and speed.

“This system helps avoid vessel collision, coordinate search and rescue and can monitor up to 36 nautical miles of Macajalar Bay,” Ybanez said.

He said the VTMS is the first of its kind to be installed at a port in Mindanao.

He said once the ship’s AIS is detected by their radar, their position would be monitored from the system’s Electronic Chart Display until the vessel leaves the area.

PHIVIDEC administrator lawyer Joseph Donato Bernido welcomed the installation of the radar system, saying it will help them monitor all 15 ports operated by their concessionaires in their 3,000-hectare industrial estate in Tagoloan and neighboring Villanueva town.

Bernido said they are expecting an increase in vessel traffic with the construction of an additional berth in the estate.

He said the last radar system installed at their port was a donation by Japan International Cooperation Agency and it had already conked out in 2008.

“With this new enhanced radar system, we will know where the vessels have parked, who is coming and going out of our ports,” he said. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)