Navigational Safety

Hydrographic Surveys

Between 1970 and 1982, Malacca Strait Council together with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the three coastal states of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore conducted a hydrographic survey of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. Under the Four-Nation Joint Survey Programme, six sheets of Common Datum Charts were drawn up between 1976 and 1982.

Between 1996 and 1998, a resurvey was carried out under the cooperation of the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.  Cumulatively costing JPY 6.0 billion (US$ 46 million), its findings and those from the 1982 survey led to International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) approval for extending the traffic separation scheme between One Fathom Bank and Horsburgh Lighthouse.

Navigational Aids

More than three-fifths of the aids to navigation used by mariners in the Straits were installed by Malacca Strait Council as part of the international cooperation extended to Indonesia and Malaysia. These installations cost more than JPY 5.4 billion (US$ 42 million), with some 41 buoys, beacons and lighthouses installed at 30 locations.  Malacca Strait Council also works closely with the two coastal nations in the maintenance and replacement of these aids.

Handing over of  Buoy Tender

In 2002, Malacca Strait Council handed over a buoy tender vessel PEDOMAN to the Malaysian government. The vessel is primarily used to maintain the aids to navigation in the Straits. It replaced the first PEDOMAN, also an early contribution of Malacca Strait Council, which had worked in the waterway for the last 25 years.