The Guangzhou Communication Center has rescued 128 seafarers this year after responding to 22 maritime distress communications on the Pearl River estuary, officials said at a news conference in the Guangdong provincial capital on Wednesday.
The center, part of the Southern Navigation Service Center (SNSC), carried out 6,498 communication sessions totaling 6,683 minutes, or about 111 hours, said An Wenwen, its deputy director.
The center also processed 605 Digital Selective Calling alerts (the automated distress signals ships send by radio), of which nine were genuine, according to An. She said alerts were received and forwarded with "zero delay", achieving a "100 percent success rate".
On the navigation side, the Guangzhou aids to navigation department of the SNSC adjusted 20 aids to navigation this year, said Cao Juxuan, its deputy director. Aids to navigation are buoys, beacons, and similar markers that guide vessels. The work covered waters including Guangzhou Port, Chuandao and Nanpeng Island, and comprised eight new installations, nine removals, and three repositionings.
Cao said the department has responded to construction demands, analyzed navigation conditions, and optimized marker arrangements to support the 200,000-ton waterway project at Guangzhou Port. It has deployed a mix of physical and virtual aids, the latter being electronic markers displayed on ships' screens, to keep passing vessels safe during dredging and widening work. Large cargo ships use the port's outbound waterway, and its capacity directly affects port operations and regional logistics efficiency, he said.
As of November, 107 dedicated aids-to-navigation units had been linked to a telemetry and remote control system for dynamic monitoring, Cao said.
