AIS: From the Deck Officers' Perspective

自2002 年以來，船舶自動識別系統AIS 已陸續成為客、貨、油輪駕駛台之必須裝備，大部份製造廠商及法律規範者多來自西方國家，然而海事從業人員卻多以亞洲國家為主，對此新裝備之操作及定位難免有認知及解讀的出入，若將其應用於海上避碰時，更突顯國際統一規範的迫切性。AIS 應以提高船員海上航行安全為首，增進船舶航行效率為輔，且以不增加當值工作負荷為前提。此學術研究調查之目的，是探訪及收集海事工作者對AIS 的看法及使用經驗，藉以傳達海事工作者對AIS 普遍觀點，以期對海上人命與航安能有正面之貢獻。期待能近身觀察遠東地區海事工作者對船舶自動識別系統AIS 的使用心得及意見。

The AIS has been approved by IMO and has becomemandatory carriage requirement on board SOLAS vessels. It is capable of sending and r a eceiving navigational data via a designated VHF data link under two operation modes of ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore. The idea of giving merchant ships an identity came from a similar use in aircraft. By enhancing target identification at sea, AIS are known to be capable of assisting traffic, improving VTS service and protecting the environment. As a result of the 911 Event, the time schedule for fitting AIS was moved forward due to concerns about possible terrorist attack from the sea. As a consequence, the time for adopting shipborne AIS in was dramatically reduced leaving most mariners with an AIS device without knowledge about the applications and AIS training is not mandatory. Therefore, the accelerated implementation schedule of AIS carriage requirement could cause concern to navigation and ship manoeuvring. The objective of the paper is to discuss the potential for using AIS for navigation. It is based on the feedback from interviewed respondents who are mainly qualified 1st Class deck officers from Taiwan. The opinions and experiences of these end-users were obtained in order to present opinions on AIS applications at sea.