Page 122: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1993)

VESSEL TRACKING SYSTEM 2000

Coast Guard Considers Seven Port Zones

For Establishing New Vessel Tracking System

Cost Estimate For A Total Of 23 Port Zones-$327 Million

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (PL. 101-380) directed the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a study to prioritize the U.S. ports and chan- nels that are in need of new, ex- panded, or improved Vessel Track- ing Systems (VTS). Research Spe- cial Programs Administration's

Volpe National Transportation Sys- tems Center conducted the study, called the Port Needs Study, be- tween February 1990 and July 1991 at a cost of $2.8 million. The Secre- tary of Transportation submitted the study to Congress in March 1992.

The act required that the study prioritize the U.S. ports and chan- nels by evaluating •the nature, volume, and fre- quency of vessel traffic; •the risk of collisions, spills, and damages associated with that traf- fic; • the impact of installing, expand- ing, or improving a VTS system; and • all other relevant costs and data.

The Port Needs Study prioritized the need for Vessel Tracking Sys- tems in U.S. ports and channels by establishing preliminary budget and benefit estimates for the Coast

Guard to use in determining where to establish or improve VTS sys- tems. For comparison purposes, the study grouped 82 major U.S. ports and their adjacent bays, rivers, sea- ward approaches, and other bodies of water into 23 port zones. Prince

William Sound, the site of the Valdez oil spill, was not included in the study because the Congress had al- ready legislated the expansion and improvement of the Prince William

Sound VTS system in the Oil Pollu- tion Act of 1990. These ports load and unload 80 percent, by tonnage, of all U.S. international and domes- tic cargo. The study identified seven of the 23 port zones as the areas the

Coast Guard should initially con- sider when determining where to establish or improve Vessel Track- ing Systems.

The study prioritized the 23 port zones by developing benefit and cost estimates of potential U.S. Coast

Guard VTS systems in each port zone. The Coast Guard's plans for installing and improving VTS sys- tems, as indicated by its fiscal year 1993 budget request, are consistent with the study's recommendation.

Ninety-one percent of the $26.8 million that the Coast Guard re- quested for fiscal year 1993 to es- tablish and improve VTS systems is earmarked for the identified port zones. The Coast Guard currently estimates that it will cost $145 mil- lion in investment funds through fiscal year 2001 to establish or im- prove VTS systems in these port zones and eight others identified by the study, and to improve other ex- isting Coast Guard-operated Vessel

Tracking Systems.

Cost estimates for each port zone were based on initial investment costs and annual operation and maintenance costs. Total costs for an individual VTS system range from $6 million for Portsmouth,

New Hampshire, to $37 million for

New Orleans, Louisiana. The total cost estimate for all 23 port zones is $327 million. Investment costs were estimated by developing a "candi- date" VTS system for each port zone.

The candidate VTS system's design is a preliminary engineering design made for the purpose of developing cost estimates that are consistent and comparable among the 23 port zones. Each candidate system em- ploys state-of-the-art equipment and provides surveillance for the entire port zone. For comparison purposes, initial investment costs were assumed to be committed in fiscal year 1993 and operation and maintenance costs were estimated from fiscal year 1996, when the study assumes for comparison pur- poses that the systems will become operational, through fiscal year 2010. All costs are discounted back to 1993.

Benefit estimates for each port zone were based on the cost of ves- sel accidents and associated conse- quences expected to be prevented by the candidate VTS system. The estimates were based on a statisti- cal analysis of historical vessel ac- cidents and the unique navigational features of each port zone to deter- mine the probability of vessel acci- dents occurring in each port zone.

The total benefit estimate for all 23 port zones is $806 million.

The study predicts that the can- didate systems would prevent $1.6 billion in damage caused by haz- ardous commodity spills between 1996 and 2010.

Emergency Response

The dollar value of emergency re- sponses to vessel accidents is esti- mated by the type of vessel and the type of response required. The study predicts that the candidate systems would prevent $10.4 million in emergency response costs between 1996 and 2010.

Figure 2 shows the locations of the seven port zones currently be- ing considered under VTS 2000 and the eight VTS systems the Coast

Guard operates (Houston/Galves- ton is included in both categories.)

The Coast Guard is focusing its efforts on establishing new VTS sys- tems primarily in the seven port zones identified by the Port Needs

Study as the areas that the Coast

Guard should consider initially. The

Coast Guard is using a benefit/cost analysis to determine the specific areas of the port zones to be moni- tored and its professional judge- ment to determine the performance specifications of the systems.

The study divided each of the 23 port zones into subzones based on water-body type, such as river, en- closed harbor, or constricted water- (Continued on page 128)

FIGURE 2

Location Of Existing And Proposed Coast Guard VTS Systems

A Existing

O Proposed

FIGURE 1

Net Benefit Estimates Of VTS Systems, By Port Zone

NewOrleans.La.

Port Arthur, Tex.

Houston/Galveston,Tex.

Mobile, Ala.

Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif.

CorpusChristi,Tex.

Boston, Mass.

New York, N.Y.

Tampa, Fla.

Portland, Ore.

Philadelphia/DelawareBay, Pa.

ChesapeakeNorth/Baltimore, Md.

Providence, R.I.

LonglslandSound,N.Y./Conn.

Pudget Sound, Wash.

Jacksonville, Fla.

Wilmington, N.C.

Santa Barbara, Calif.

Portsmouth, N.H.

Portland, Maine

San Francisco, Calif.

Anchorage/Cooklnlet, Alaska

Chesapeake South /Ham pton, Va. •MB mam a 1 !

J -• 1 -50 50 100 150 200 250 300

Source: GAO presentation of data from the Port Needs Study.

June, 1993 123