Actions Required by Shipowners Agents and Berth Operators

The action by Shipowners, Shipping Agents and Berth Operators in implementing the movement of their ships has a great bearing on the co-ordination of all shipping movements in the Port of Southampton.

The following points must be followed to ensure that a suitable and acceptable slot is available for a vessel to manoeuvre within the Port area for either an arrival or a departure passage.

a) The master, owner, agent or berth operator should make all necessary arrangements in terms of services to be provided, i.e. pilots, tugs, linesmen etc for his vessel’s movement within the Port.Such arrangements or any subsequent alteration to ETAs or ETDs must be reported to the VTS Data Centre for confirmation prior to implementation.

b) The master, owner, agent or berth operator must confirm the ETA times or changes to ETA times and report:

i.Ship’s name and International Radio Call Sign (IRCS)

ii.ETA (12 hours and then 3 hours before arrival)

iii.Deepest draft(Passage Planning requirement)

iv.Last port of call

v.Hazardous goods

vi.Any deficiencies of ship, navigation equipment, machinery and cargo.

vii.Any other relevant information to VTS.

viii.Towage ordered

c) The Master, owner, agent or berth operator must confirm the ETD times 3 hours before departure. The Master must reconfirm 30 minutes before departure at which time the pilot will be dispatched to the ship.

Details required:

i.Ship’s name

ii.ETD

iii.Deepest draft (Passage Planning requirement)

iv.Next port of call

v.Any other relevant information to VTS

vi.Towage ordered

d) In cases where a vessel is not ready to move at the agreed slot time the owner, agent or berth operator is to inform VTS immediately.The vessel must remain in its present position – safe conditions permitting – until further consultations have resulted in a revised slot time being agreed. Failure to comply may result in the vessel missing her slot time thus resulting in a further delay due to other traffic movements in the Port.

e) Decisions made by the VTSO of the movement of any ship are final.

(Reference ‘1 Introduction’)