Traffic growth for VTS centres

Until 30 September 2015, Horten VTS Centre monitored and regulated traffic in waters from Færder to Spro/Steilene at Nesodden, while the waters within this area were the responsibility of Oslo harbour VTS. As from 1 October 2015, Horten VTS Centre assumed responsibility for monitoring Oslo harbour. The expansion was equivalent to about 10 000 more clearances in the period October-December 2015. This largely explains the growth in the number of sailing clearances in Horten VTS Centre in 2015.

Kvitsøy VTS Centre in Rogaland, which monitors traffic from Bømlafjorden in the north to Jærens Rev in the south, still handles the most sailing clearances, with almost 152 000 in 2015. This represents 41 per cent of all clearances, but was still a decline of 2 per cent compared to 2014. For the VTS centres at both Brevik and Fedje, there were only minor changes in the number of sailing clearances from 2014 to 2015.

More than 116 000 sailings requiring pilotage

The number of sailings requiring pilotage has been steadily increasing in recent years, from 94 000 in 2010 to 116 300 in 2015, an increase of almost 24 per cent. The increase in 2015 was however quite moderate, with barely 1.5 per cent. Vestlandet was, as usual, the maritime traffic department with most sailings requiring pilotage, with almost 25 800 in 2015. Compared to 2014, this was a decline of nearly 4 per cent, but compared to 2010, the number of sailings requiring pilotage at Vestlandet traffic department increased by 20 per cent. In 2015, the largest growth, both relatively and absolutely, in sailings requiring pilotage, was in the Oslo department. More than 14 600 such sailings were carried out in 2015. This was an increase of 1 800 sailings or 14 per cent from 2014.