Last week, I toured the US Coast Guard’s brand spankin’ new Joint Harbor Operations Command (JHOC) in Seattle. The JHOC is now the home for Coast Guard Sector Seattle’s Sector Command Center and Vessel Traffic Center. The JHOC is the premiere Coast Guard Command Center for the Pacific Northwest, partnering with the Navy, Washington State Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, various agencies of the Department of Homeland Security, and local first responder agencies. When they say “joint operations”, they mean it!

During my visit, I toured two facilities both located in the new JHOC building at Pier 36 in downtown Seattle. First, Chief James Luty showed me the Vessel Traffic Service operations center.

Electronic devices are not permitted within the JHOC, so I couldn’t take pictures. To give you some idea of how things work, though, take a look at this 2004 VTS video produced by the Coast Guard. Think air traffic control, and you’ve got the idea.

The room is dimly lit, and each communications specialist sits at one of five stations. These stations look like typical computer workstations, but with six (or was it eight?) large flat-screen monitors showing charts, radar, vessel plots, live video, and other data. Pretty sophisticated. The physical desk surface features a chart of the area that operator controls, so that in the event of power or system failure, they can track vessels the old way: by sliding physical vessel indicators around on the chart.

“Seattle Traffic” is active on two VHF channels: Channel 5a covers the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the San Juan Islands, Rosario Strait, Bellingham Bay, and the entrances to Puget Sound, while Channel 14 covers the rest of Puget Sound and the Hood Canal. Between radar, AIS, and live video, specialists are able to keep pretty close tabs on all the large vessels operating in their area of responsibility (AOR). All targets are color coded by type: ferries and government vessels are one color, petroleum-carrying vessels are distinct from regular cargo vessels, and those carrying chemicals get their own color as well.

Outside the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, traffic management is handled by the Canadian Coast Guard’s Tofino Traffic operations center, active on channel 74, while the area from Victoria through Haro Strait north to the Strait of Georgia are handled by Victoria Traffic, on channel 11. Vessel tracking data is exchanged between the two countries’ Vessel Traffic Centers in realtime.

If you’re familiar with the area, you’ll quickly realize that the Canadian AOR includes stretches of US water, and the US AOR includes stretches of Canadian water. As a former communications specialist (in civilian law enforcement), I’m very much aware of the many ways interagency rivalries and jurisdictional territorialism can create confusion and delay. During my visit to the Vessel Trafic Center, I found the cooperative, almost symbiotic relationship between the two agencies (in different countries!) truly astonishing. Take a look at the map, though, and it quickly becomes clear that attempting to manage vessel traffic while strictly observing the Canadian/US border would be problematic, to say the least.

The VTS is intended to manage large vessels that, by virtue of their sheer size, are “restricted in their ability to maneuver”. Recreational vessels are not required to actively participate in VTS. However, it’s a good idea to monitor the appropriate channel for the waters in which you operate. Also, you should be aware of the traffic lanes, and minimize the amount of time spent in them.

I regularly monitor channel 14, for example, and listen for the Washington State Ferries, which check in with Seattle Traffic before they cross Puget Sound; instant traffic report! Also, Chief Luty clarified that if recreational boaters experience genuine maritime safety issues in high traffic areas, such as restricted visibility due to fog or a boat disabled in a traffic lane, they should feel free to call in on the active vessel traffic channel.

Next time, I’ll describe what I learned on the second part of my tour…stay tuned!