That’s a somewhat inflammatory headline, ain’t it? So let me point out, right off the bat, that I’m engaging in a bit of hyperbole.

As regular readers already know, I love the Coast Guard, and I love the Vessel Traffic Service. Heck, in Puget Sound, VHF channel 14 is usually a lot more informative than channel 16!

But currently, VTS personnel don’t “see” Class B AIS targets on their plotters. Is that really possible?

Well, that’s been my experience while testing my own Class B equipment, and at the recent eNavigation conference in Seattle I was able to confirm that my experience is consistent with the current state of VTS technology.

According to Commander Brian Tetreault, chief of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Services Division, the VTS AIS base stations receive the Class B messages along with all the AIS messages. But the VTS system that processes these messages does not currently have the capability to display them.

“We hope to have this capability sometime in the next 6-12 months,” says Commander Tetreault.

At least that explains why Seattle Traffic couldn’t spot me during my testing, while the nearby ferry could. Thanks, Commander, for straightening this out!