Xanatos Marine Ltd. to Provide AIS Transponders for Mexico

Xanatos Marine Ltd. wins a $4.9M contract from the US Department of State to provide 19,000 AIS transmit only transponders to the Mexican Merchant Marine, an Agency under the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT). The Identifier (I100) transponder, supplied by em-trak, provides the capacity to track the position of small vessels and provides information about the vessel and owner.

The Maritime Authority, under the direction of the Direccion General de Marina Mercante, has issued a Norm (Law) making mandatory the use of an AIS transmitting device on any small vessels within Mexican waters. Captain Manuel Gutierrez, the Port and Maritime Security Director said that “once this project is completed, it will dramatically assist us in protecting our citizens and securing our waters by increasing response times to incidents and preventing illegal activity by way of the Sea”.

The Identifier, once installed aboard the vessels, will provide the command centers a comprehensive view of their coastline allowing the center to locate and identify, in real-time, any small vessels cruising within their boarders. The real time AIS data will also be shared with the US Narcotic Affairs Section and the US Coast Guard.