China's largest deepwater harbor Dongjiakou Harbor, which is under construction in the east coastal city of Qingdao, will cooperate with Shandong Provincial Maritime Affairs Bureau to establish a vessel traffic service (VTS), local authorities said on Oct 26.

VTS is a marine traffic monitoring system using advanced sensors such as radar, closed-circuit television, and radiotelephony to keep track of vessel movement in a limited geographical area to improve the safety and efficiency of navigation.

Despite three radar stations and a VTS center that have operated in Qingdao Port since 2006, the current service has failed to cover some water areas in and around Dongjiakou Harbor, according to the authorities.

Qingdao Port consists of four areas: Qingdao old port area, Huangdao oil port, Qianwan new port area and the Dongjiakou harbor area. Dongjiakou Harbor covers an area of about 70 square km and is designed for 112 berths with a frontage of 35.7 km.

The construction work of the Dongjiakou harbor area started in May 2009. The annual capacity of the harbor is expected to reach more than 310 million tonnes by 2020.

Edited by Chen Zhilin

Source: English.news.cn