What is the IALA maritime buoyage system?
The severest test of a buoyage system occurs when the mariner is confronted unexpectedly by night or low visibility by the lights marking an uncharted danger, such as a recent wreck; immediately he must instincively,positively and correctly decide which way to go.
In the Dover Strait in 1971 the Brandemburg struck the wreckage of the Texaco Caribbean and sank,thought the wreckage was appropriately marked. A few weeks later the wreckage,dedespite being marked by a wreck-marking vessel and many buoys, was struck by the Niki, which also sank. A total of 51 lives was lost. It was this disaster which brought to life the IALA Maritime Buoyage System.
The beginning of a uniform system of buoyage emerged in 1889, when certain countries agreed to mark the port hand side of channels with black can buoys and the starboard hand with red conical buoys.
Unfortunately when lights for buoys were introduced,some European countries placed red light on the black port hand buoys to conform with the red lights marking the port hand side of harbour entrances, whilst ththroughout North America red lights were place on the red starboard hand buoys.
Thereafter various conferences sought a single buoyage system , but without success until 1936 when a system was drawn up unde The League of Nations at Geneva. It established a Cardinal system, and a Lateral system with the principle that red buoys should be used on the port hand and black buoys on the starboard hand.But several countries were not signatories on this Conversation and continued to develop their original and opposite systems.
After World War II buoyage system were re-established in North- west Europe based on the systems devised by the 1936 Geneva Conversation but wide differences in interpretation of that system resulted in 9 different system coming into use in those waters
In 1973 observing the need for urgency a further attempt to find a single world-wide system of buoyage was made by the Technical Committee of the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities ( IALA). IALA is a non - governmental body which bring together representative from the aids to navigation services in order to exchange information and recommend improvements to navigational aids based on the latest technology.
IALA decided that agreement could not be achieved immediately but concluded that the use of only two alternative system was practicable by dividing the world into two Regions. It proposed a system allowing the use of both Cardinal and Lateral system in each Region but whereas in Region A the colour red of the Lateral system in used to mark the port side of channels and the colour green the starboard side, in Region B the colours are reversed.
Below is a map of the area around Region A and Region B
In future articles I hope to introduce you in detail about the shapes of buoys and their variants and their uses..so stay tuned.Leave your comments below. Have a nice day
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