Port Entry Light Helps U.S Coast Guard Maintain Navigation Safety on Great Lakes

Sealite Case Studies

Port Entry Light Helps U.S Coast Guard Maintain Navigation Safety on Great Lakes

Port Entry Light Helps U.S Coast Guard Maintain Navigation Safety on Great Lakes

By:Sealite | July 12, 2018
Application: Replace existing range light
Products: PEL-10 Sector Light
Location: St. Mary's River between Lakes Superior and Huron, USA
Date: September 2016
Background

The five Great Lakes which straddle the borders of the United States and Canada are nicknamed, “America’s Inland Oceans.” Covering approximately 95,000 square miles of water with a total coastline of 10,000 miles, the lakes stretch for a distance twice as long as the center of the North American continent. The lakes are accessible to ocean-going vessels via the Great Lakes Seaway-St. Lawrence Seaway, where more than 160 million tons of cargo are transported annually contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. and Canadian economies. The primary navigation channel connecting two of the lakes, Lake Superior and Lake Huron, is the St. Marys River. It represents a major navigation challenge for Great Lakes mariners.

Stretching for a total length of approximately 63-75 miles (101-121 km), the St. Marys has an average depth of only 20’. As one of the busiest waterways in the world, it requires ongoing maintenance and dredging to allow the passage of bulk ore carriers up to 1,000 ft. in length. Navigation hazards including shallow water, sandbars, islands and reefs cause vessel captains to change course approximately 20 times to stay in the main channel to ensure the safety of vessel, cargo and human life.

The Challenge

The U.S. Coast Guard 9th District carries the heavy responsibility of monitoring and maintaining the navigation channels in the Great Lakes waterways for the United States. One of their many goals is to ensure safe passage for ships that travel the challenging St. Marys River.

To assist ship captains and pilots in their navigation on the river, the U.S. Coast Guard installed a set of leading lights on Sugar Island. By aligning two lights together, vessels were able to safely enter the St. Marys River and navigate through the narrow navigation channel. The leading lights provided an adequate solution but the configuration was difficult for mariners to distinguish from other background lighting and required significant amounts of power for the inefficient incandescent bulbs.

Additionally, the existing installation required the lease or ownership of two separate property assets by the U.S. Coast Guard. The two properties required ongoing maintenance placing a strain on limited USCG resources.

These factors led the Waterways Management Division at the Coast Guard District 9 Headquarters to consider an alternative to the existing range lights.

The Solution

As the outdated leading lights were reaching the end of their service life, the U.S. Coast Guard sought out alternative lighting to provide a safer navigation solution. After careful consideration for service, performance and price, the U.S. Coast Guard chose Sealite’s 10-degree Sectored LED Port Entry Light (PEL) to assist mariners entering the challenging St. Marys River.

Sealite’s 10-degree LED PEL provides a single, sectored lighting solution delivering unsurpassed navigation accuracy. Instead of aligning two separate white lights to lead ships into and through the navigation channel, the single Sealite PEL provides high precision red, green, and white LED sector lights and a 10-degree beam width for outstanding channel-approach accuracy.

The compact design of Sealite’s PEL reduces the expense associated with the procurement and maintenance of two separate installation sites, reducing it to a single location.

With an intensity of 120,000 candelas (cd), Sealite’s PEL features a maximum power draw of only 30 watts, making it extremely efficient at delivering up to 20 nautical miles of visible nighttime range. The PEL-10 provides accuracy greater than one minute of Arc, resulting in a color transition distance under 5’ at 3 NM range.

Sealite’s Port Entry Light is also available in a 5-degree model and comes with options for GSM Remote Monitoring and Control, GPS Flash Sync and AIS Monitoring. Other port entry lighting solutions from Sealite include a broad selection of Range Lights and Leading Lights.

“This is our second Sealite PEL installation on the Great Lakes. It gives mariners a more precise target to navigate towards, has eliminated the extra work and expense of maintaining two separate sites and was easier to install [than other systems used]. Because of its performance and efficiencies, we will be installing another PEL this spring. Sealite’s Sectored LED Port Entry Light has received nothing but praise from pilots and commercial operators on the Great Lakes.”

– William D. Sharp, United States Coast Guard Ninth Coast Guard District

What Our Client's Say

On behalf of Karachi Port I am pleased to acknowledge your good service and provision of the new SL-75 solar marine lanterns installed by your firm in the harbour channel at Karachi Port. The new lanterns are very feasible and useful and equipped with the latest navigational technology.

-Captain Muhammad Altaf

[Re: Sealite SL-LED Lightsource at LaCorbiere Lighthouse], We were impressed with Sealite’s solution which provided a modern, reliable and efficient light source whilst remaining sympathetic to the lighthouse’s heritage and significance as a local landmark, but most importantly to improve upon reliability and to continue its vital role in aiding the safety of navigation in Jersey’s waters, as it has done for nearly 130 years.

-Aaron Gavey

[Re: Sealite Wins Duke’s Choice Award for Java Technology & the Environment – Sealite GSM monitoring & control system]. The team at Motorola were extremely impressed with Sealite’s innovative integration of the G24-Java wireless module in their GSM Monitoring & Alarm System.

-Golan Haver

As one of your new distributors (Belize and Honduras, Waller Marine Belize LTD), I would like to express my congratulations to you and your people in providing reliable, dependable and inexpensive products. Formerly we were distributors for a Canadian made product but these were found to be too expensive for the market and also offered only difficult and complicated programming. Our first order of lights from you (SL15’s) took only four days to arrive from Aussie Land, when I opened the box they were still flashing. I tested a SL60 (white) for four days (steady on) before it required a recharge…remarkable. I will be placing another order shortly. Keep up the good work.

-Capt Andy Suddes

[Re: Installation of WindTalker for kite-surfing club], The WindTalker™ is a big success here in Cyprus, thanks to your after sales support the unit is now functioning perfectly.

-Christophe Meletiou

We choose to sell Sealite … this is a long story, well we treat Sealite as our own and the relationship we have developed with Jeff and Chris and their attitude and commitment towards growing Sealite to this stage is remarkable. We feel at home when talking to them and the staff of Sealite and this in turn gives us more security and strength in selling products in India.

-Aliasgar E Patrawala

[Re: Sealite Solar-Powered LED Area Lighting system], We chose the Sealite system for the Jacobs Well Queuing Pontoon due to our previous experience with Sealite’s product, its durability and construction.

-Peter Taylor

I just wanted to say thank you for the light and bracket Sealite supplied to Birkenhead Marina. As the other lights (old ones) need new batteries I will be replacing them with new lights from Sealite and the same brackets that you supplied with the light we received last week … Your product is excellent and the system of setting the light is good also. Thanks again for all your trouble.

-Philip McGowen