The Marine Communication and Traffic Services (MCTS)

Background

The marine community is served by four Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) Centres located in Montreal, Quebec City, Les Escoumins and Rivière au Renard.

By collecting and disseminating marine information, MCTS Centres facilitate ship-to-shore communications and ensure the safe use of navigable waterways. They play a crucial role in reducing the risk of vessel collisions, groundings and strikings in Canadian waters, thereby supporting Canada's economic activities and helping to protect the environment.

And by providing the initial response to ships in distress, MCTS Centres also play a front-line role in saving lives at sea.

The four MCTS Centres cover an area encompassing the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries, the estuary and part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as well as the coastal waters of the Magdalen Islands. They monitor marine radio distress frequencies around the clock, twelve months of the year, and respond to mariners' calls for assistance.

MCTS Centres serve a large clientele made up of commercial ships, fishers, recreational boaters and whale-watching and other excursion vessels. Ships that ply the waters under the watch of these centres benefit from Marine Communications and Traffic Services, including regulation of the flow of vessel traffic, an assistance in saving lives, rapid emergency response, continuous weather forecasts and marine safety broadcasts and an efficient Alert and Warning Network.

Riverside populations also benefit from these services, since they help to protect water supplies, the marine ecosystem, shorelines and the whole coastal environment.

Four MCTS Centres Serving Mariners

Montreal

The Montreal MCTS Centre is located in Longueuil, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence (45 32 48 N - 73 31 42 W). It serves all the navigable waters of the St. Lawrence between the city of Tracy and the upstream limits of the Port of Montreal, which is the gateway to the Great Lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway. The MCTS Centre also serves a large clientele of recreational boaters plying the waters of the Ottawa River, Rivière des Prairies, Rivière des Mille-Iles, Richelieu River, Lake Saint Louis, Lake Saint François, Lac des Deux-Montagnes and the stretch of the St. Lawrence extending to Yamachiche.

Two remote radar sites enable the staff of the Montreal MCTS to track the movement of ships: one is situated on the south shore at Ile Charron and the other is under the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. The Montreal MCTS Centre controls a network of five VHF sites and is responsible for overseeing the application of the under-keel clearance standard in the shipping channel between Tracy and Montreal. Transiting deep-draught vessels are monitored using criteria that include ship squat at a given speed and the safety margin required for navigation.

Quebec City

Located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, in the Port of Quebec City, (46 49 09 N - 71 11 01 W), this MCTS Centre serves the navigable waters of the St. Lawrence between Île Blanche and the city of Tracy. It includes six VHF sites and a radar station at Lévis, on the south shore. The MCTS Centre is also responsible for applying the under-keel clearance standard in the shipping channel between Ile Blanche and Tracy. Transiting deep-draught vessels are monitored using criteria that include ship squat at a given speed and the safety margin required for navigation.

The Quebec City MCTS Centre co-ordinates the Regional Alert and Warning Network (RAWN) covering the Quebec Region.

Les Escoumins

This MCTS is located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at Les Escoumins, about 15 miles east of the mouth of the Saguenay River (48 19 03.41 N - 69 25 13.99 W). It serves the navigable waters of the St. Lawrence River, from the eastern tip of Anticosti Island to Ile Blanche (at the entrance to the Saguenay), and the Saguenay River downstream from the city of Saguenay. The Centre has a VHF radio network encompassing eight sites and a surveillance radar station at Anse aux Basques.

The MCTS Centre is also tasked with regulating vessel traffic movements in the boarding and disembarking areas used by the pilots of Les Escoumins.

East of Les Escoumins, a Traffic Separation Scheme is in effect during the ice-free navigation period. The Centre makes sure that ships operating in ice follow the recommended ice routes.

Rivière au Renard

The Rivière au Renard MCTS is located on the Gaspé Peninsula, at the entrance to the St. Lawrence estuary, opposite Honguedo Strait (49 00 30 N - 64 24 00 W). Its radio coverage encompasses the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the western tip of Anticosti Island to Chaleur Bay, including the Magdalen Islands and the North Shore (from Havre-Saint-Pierre to Blanc Sablon). A network of 10 VHF sites and 3 MF sites helps to ensure marine safety, including one site on the eastern tip of Anticosti Island, providing strategic coverage for the western part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

During the period of ice cover, the MCTS Centre ensures that transiting ships follow the recommended ice routes.

Basic services provided by MCTS Centers

Channel 16: distress calls and safety

Channel 16 (156.8 MHz) is reserved for distress, emergency and safety communications and for transmitting messages of a general nature on other frequencies. MCTS Centres can relay weather reports, storm and gale warnings, Notices to Shipping and notices to fishers. Even more importantly, some emergency and distress information is broadcast directly on Channel 16, such as calls for assistance involving ships in distress.

VHF-DSC -- Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI)

The Coast Guard strongly recommends that when mariners purchase a radio they register it so that the Coast Guard can provide them with assistance if necessary. VHF radios are usually equipped with Digital Selective Calling (DSC), which allows selective calls to be made on VHF channel 70. To make a digital call, each radio must have an "identity", that is, a nine-digit Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number.

The radio owner's manual contains a variety of information, such as the procedure for making a DSC call to another ship or to a shore-based station capable of receiving this type of message.

File a sail plan for your safety

Although owners of smaller vessels are not subject to the Vessel Traffic Services Zones Regulations, the Coast Guard recommends that they relay their sail plan by phone or by VHF radio to one of the four MCTS Centres in Quebec.

If a mariner fails to return at the time set out in the sail plan, a search will be launched. Mariners must also remember to report their arrival to any of the MCTS Centres in Quebec.

Regulating vessel traffic to ensure navigation safety

The Vessel Traffic Services Zones Regulations apply to all commercial ships at least 20 metres in length and all pleasure craft 30 metres or longer. Vessels subject to the Regulations must obtain authorization before casting off, make scheduled position reports and stay tuned to the channel specified in the Regulations. Mariners are provided with relevant vessel traffic information and shipping channel data.

Continuous marine broadcasts

All MCTS Centres provide this service from various transmitters and on various frequencies. Prior to getting under way and throughout your voyage, mariners can tune into our MCTS messages which include weather forecasts, safety advisories, Notices to Shipping, notices to fishers and tide times.

For more information, mariners can consult the Radio Aids to Marine Navigation (RAMN) / National website.

The Regional Alert and Warning Network (RAWN)

The Regional Alert and Warning Network is a communication system designed to allow marine stakeholders to respond in a rapid, efficient and concerted manner in the event of marine emergencies. The stakeholders concerned include federal and provincial departments and agencies, municipalities, rescue organizations and the marine industry.

Public correspondence

This service provides two-way communication between people on board ships and people on shore as well as between ships located at a considerable distance from each other. Operating through a link to the land-based telephone system, the service enables prompt and direct communications between stakeholders.

Note: This service is provided by the Les Escoumins and Rivière au Renard MCTS Centres only.

Managing an integrated marine information system in support of economic benefits and national interests

The MCTS Centres collect, analyse and disseminate vessel traffic information in support of the commercial activities of the marine industry, including ports, and the activities of federal government departments and agencies.

The role of the MCTS Centres is based on a legislative framework consisting of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, the Oceans Act, the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, the Search and Rescue Convention of the International Maritime Organization and the radio regulations of the International Telecommunication Union.

The Department has the authority to establish regulations establishing vessel traffic service zones and the practices and procedures that apply within those areas (e.g., Vessel Traffic Services Zones Regulations and the Eastern Canada Vessel Traffic Services Zone Regulations).