Saab Transpondertech Wins Contract to Install Automatic Identification System Infrastructure for China's Inland Waterways

LINKÖPING, Sweden – Sept. 8, 2010 – (Marine NewsWire) Saab TransponderTech AB, the leading supplier of maritime Automatic Information Systems (AIS), today announced that it has been awarded a contract from the China Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) to supply an AIS network covering six major inland waterways in China. The AIS stations will improve the China MSA’s visibility over the thousands of vessels transiting the country’s extensive rivers and canals, by capturing each vessel’s name and description, as well as its position, speed, heading and other data for display at vessel traffic monitoring stations. Under the contract, Saab will supply some 150 AIS base stations and more than 50 system servers along the historic Beijing-Hangzhou Canal (also known as the Grand Canal of China), as well as the Heilongjiang, Songhua, tributaries of the Yangtze, Pearl and Huaihe River systems. Saab earlier supplied the AIS network covering China’s coastal waters. “The inland AIS infrastructure will provide a significant expansion of China’s national AIS coastal network,” said Lars Bergholtz, president of Saab TransponderTech. “It builds on the outstanding working relationship between us and our Chinese partner, Shanghai Navstar Technologies Co., Ltd developed over the last five years.” It is estimated that China has a total fleet of more than 200,000 inland vessels in operation. The Grand Canal of China is the world’s oldest and longest man-made waterway, far surpassing Suez and Panama. It comprises 1,795 kilometers (1,114 miles) with 24 locks and approximately 60 bridges. The canal was first constructed between 486 B.C. and 610 A.D. About Saab TransponderTech Saab TransponderTech AB (www.transpondertech.se), a company in the Saab Group, is recognized as one of the leading suppliers of products and systems related to maritime security, covering the whole range from small individual port solutions to national coastal surveillance networks. Saab was an early pioneer in maritime AIS technology, and has supplied more than 15,000 AIS ship transponders and 1,500 AIS base stations around the world. Saab is one of the world’s leading high-technology companies, with its main operations focused on defense, aviation and civil security. The group covers a broad spectrum of competence and capabilities in systems integration.