On 1 May 2025, the busiest fairways in the Port of Turku will introduce new meeting and overtaking prohibition areas for merchant vessels, which will harmonise and clarify traffic regulations in the area.
The new meeting and overtaking prohibition areas will ensure safer passage of larger vessels on three busy fairways while allowing smaller vessels to keep operating smoothly. The new prohibition areas apply to all vessels over 45 metres in length and are located on the following fairways controlled by Archipelago VTS:
- Kuuva – Port of Turku
- Pansio fairway
- Perno fairway
“Traffic in the Port of Turku has changed over the years, and the size of vessels has also increased. For this reason, it has felt natural to examine how traffic regulations could also be developed together with fairway users. The new meeting and overtaking prohibition areas that are being introduced will make it easier to move in the area while ensuring smooth passage to all vessels,” says Harbour Master Ville Alander from the Port of Turku.
The new meeting and overtaking prohibition areas will replace the current traffic rules on the fairways as of 1 May. At the same time, the old meeting and overtaking prohibition in the Late fairway will be removed.
The new prohibition areas do not apply to situations where the other party to the meeting or overtake is a vessel of less than 45 metres in length, and the vessels have agreed on the meeting or overtake on the Archipelago VTS working channel (VHF 71). In this case, the smaller vessel must take the initiative to coordinate with the larger vessel, guaranteeing that the larger vessel's passage remains unobstructed. Vessels under 45 metres in length can meet each other without agreeing on VHF.
User experiences guide further development
Monitoring and collecting user feedback will play a key role in assessing the functionality of the new meeting and overtaking prohibition areas.
“Fintraffic Vessel Traffic Centre will monitor compliance with the new rules in the summer and inform vessels about the changes by VHF if necessary. We also encourage as many users as possible to give us feedback on the functionality of the rules by email,” says Development Manager Esa Kallio from Fintraffic’s Vessel Traffic Services.
User feedback will be collected by email between 1 May and 31 August with the goal of obtaining views on the functionality of the rules. Please send your user feedback to ville.alander(at)portofturku.fi and esa.kallio(at)fintraffic.fi.
After feedback has been collected, proposals may be made to update Traficom’s VTS traffic regulations.
The new Archipelago VTS meeting and overtaking prohibition areas and other changes will be updated to the regional Master’s Guide for vessel traffic at mastersguide.fintraffic.fi.
In Finland’s coastal area, the party responsible for vessel traffic services is Fintraffic VTS, which ensures the safe passage of cargo vessels and passenger ships around the clock, every day of the year. One of the most important tasks of Fintraffic Vessel Traffic Centres is to prevent dangerous meetings and overtakes of vessels and congestion of traffic along the long and often difficult coastline of Finland. Meeting and overtaking prohibition areas are among the most effective keys to success. Meeting and overtaking prohibition areas will be developed together with the authorities, stakeholders and customers in the sector.
