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Ships approaching coastline will have to report to Navy, CG
New Delhi, Nov 30 (UNI)

As part of stringent measures to check threat of terrorism, arms trafficking and piracy from the seas, all ships approaching the Indian coastlines would now have to report their positions to the Navy or Coastguard.
 The Navy has operationalised a new National Automatic Information System to which all ships sailing 40 to 50 nautical miles from the Indian coast would have to report on the pattern of aircraft approaching Indian airspace.
 ‘‘It would be mandatory for all merchent ships to log in advance information about their tonnage, cargo as well as the condition before they approach ports and coastline,’’ a top naval official said here.
 An automatic indentification system has been put in place in the National network information system which can track ships upto 40 to 50 nautical miles from the coast.
 ‘‘It would provide a system to identify suspect fast speed boats and other threats to the coastline from the sea,’’ a naval official said.
 ‘‘As per the international maritime laws, we already have an Indian ship position reporting system in place since 1996,’’ the official said, adding the advance logging would not apply to foreign warships, as these are allowed to steam-in with prior permission.