§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has currently been made through the International Maritime Organisation for the early introduction of ship-identification transponders on oil tankers. [41864]
§ Mr. NorrisThis is an operational matter for the Marine Safety Agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from R.M. Bradley to Mr. Elliot Morley, dated 7 November 1995:
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your Question about transponders.766WThere appears to be broad international acceptance of the principle of transponders and it is encouraging that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has now developed a performance standard for a system based on VHF radio, which is particularly suitable for monitoring coastal shipping.The United Kingdom is continuing its efforts at the IMO to secure the compulsory carriage of transponders on larger ships as soon as possible. As part of that drive, this Agency is conducting a trial using automatic ship-identification transponders on a number of ships in the Dover Strait.