Carriage, Handling and Storage of Dangerous Goods along

110 RECOMMENDATIONS
tool that would allow navigators to ensure they are on course, and alert them of any hazards that might
be approaching. By recording an ideal course with outer limits for safety and overtaking, it is possible
to provide an accurate level of route guidance, whilst allowing for potential GPS accuracy issues. This
system would allow the navigator to keep the vessel on a predetermined track and avoid underwater
obstacles and rocky outcrops. During heavy rains, which seriously reduce visibility, the navigator could
still reach the safety of port by steering with assistance from the digital chart.
The proposed system would incorporate a number of other advantages:
1. The Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) of vessels could be calculated with great accuracy as
the pilots could determine instantly the distance remaining to reach the next destination;
2. Vessels could sail cautiously in conditions with bad visibility caused by dense rain, fog,
and from sailing during twilight hours;
3. In emergency situations, vessels could continue to sail in extreme weather such as heavy
rain and winds; and
4. Governments could have control and registration of accidents by checking the GPS
readings and tracking logs of vessels. This data would be extremely useful during
accident investigations.
Vessels could continue to sail into the late evening and night just to reach a safe port. Due diligence
would be required, however, as it is strongly advised only to sail during daylight hours.
An initial "project area" along a stretch of river will provide an initial opportunity to test the
technology and survey methodology to ensure its suitability for use in navigating the river. If this
project is successful, the technology will be expanded to cover other stretches that are not suited to
physical marking, including upstream from Huay Xay and downstream from Luang Prabang in Thailand
and Lao PDR to Kompong Cham in Cambodia. From Kompong Cham downstream to the sea, navigation
is easier as the gradient of the river flattens out, the riverbed is less rocky, and buoys and beacons work
effectively there.
Data collected from the early stages of the project must be combined with other spatial datasets.
These include the updated digital hydrographic atlas which is then uploaded to the GPS units to provide
a resource of hand-held devices containing a universal navigation dataset of the basin for use in future
projects and research
A bathymetric survey using a combination of Side-Scan Sonar technology with Single-Beam
Echosounding should be conducted to verify the safety of the above identified course lines. The
proposed survey area should extend to a maximum of 30m either side of the course line identified
during the assessment stage. Sounding data should be collected during the sidescan survey, with
information from the sidescan monitor used to direct the focus of the survey to collect concentrated
depth information of rocks and other hazardous objects. If necessary the traditional navigation channel
should be realigned to avoid any dangerous obstacles. However, any such realignment should be as
minor as possible to preserve the general alignment of the traditional route.
The results of the bathymetric survey should be analysed using software tools (ArcGIS, Hypak, etc) to
interpolate a surface of the riverbed within the navigation corridor.
An advanced GPS mapset should also be produced to create a comprehensive graphical map set of
the project area. This information should be integrated with data layers from the existing hydrographic
atlas and updated chart datum determination to produce graphical maps that can be displayed on large
screens GPS instruments.
It is important to note that this system is only a help for the vessel itself. River management and port
services have no knowledge of the vessel’s position and the vessel itself has no knowledge of other