The working channel of Archipelago VTS is VHF 71.

Reports should include the following information:

• Name of the vessel
• Name of reporting point
• Destination
• Intended route. If an alternative route is selected, this must be reported. 

Required reports

• upon entry into the VTS Area
• before anchoring
• before leaving an anchorage 
• after berthing
• departure report before leaving port; for Port of Turku and Port of Naantali, see item ”Departure permissions"
• at the reporting points in the area:
  • 20 minutes before passing the following reporting points: 

1. Fagerholm
2. Lövskär
3. Smörgrund
4. Hylkkari*
5. Ljungö, westbound vessels report their selected route
6. Ledsund or S of Ledskär, eastbound vessels report their selected route
7. Fläckgrund**
8. Askgrund
9. Marhällan or Korsö***

* Southbound vessels shall report 20 minutes before passing Hylkkari light to Archipelago VTS on VHF channel 71.

* Northbound vessels shall report 20 minutes before passing Hylkkari light to West Coast VTS on VHF channel 9.

** Westbound vessels shall report 20 minutes before passing Fläckgrund light to Archipelago VTS on VHF channel 71.

** Eastbound vessels shall report 20 minutes before passing Fläckgrund light to Hanko VTS on VHF channel 67.

*** Vessels bound for Mariehamn shall report 20 minutes before passing either Marhällan or Korsö depending on which fairway they are going to use. Vessels leaving from Mariehamn shall report which fairway they are going to use when giving a departure report. 

• when passing the following reporting points:

10. Orhisaari, only westbound; vessels report their selected route 

• Vessels are required to report 10 minutes before passing Långnäs. 
• Vessels are required to report 10 minutes before entering, departing or crossing a merchant shipping lane.

More detailed information about the services provided in the harbour areas and the information required of vessels can be found in item “Harbour areas”.

East of Kihti Lighthouse (60º 04,6’ N 021º 08,3’ E), commuter and Archipelago ferries with an operational Automatic Identification System (AIS) are required to report according to the procedures listed in Reporting procedures, only when the visibility is less than one nautical mile.

Before leaving the Port of Turku or Port of Naantali, the vessel must request permission to depart.

The permission to depart issued by the VTS is valid for 20 minutes, during which time the vessel must get underway. 

The vessel is required to give a report when underway. If the vessel’s departure is delayed, it will have to request a new permission to depart. This does not apply to departures from the Aura River; see item “Harbour areas - Turku".

Meeting and overtaking is permanently prohibited in the following areas covered by Archipelago VTS:

1. Lövskär: Buoys Lövskär and Baggisgrundet – buoy Kristina between longitudes 021º 43,3’ E and 021º 45,2’ E in Utö-Naantali fairway.
2. Ledsund: Buoy Remmargrundet – buoy Storgrundet between longitudes 020° 09,7’ E and 020° 11,8′ E in Ledskär parallel fairway.
3. Väst Prästskär: Buoys Prästkär 3 and Prästkär 4 – Edge mark Finngrund and buoy Prästskärsgrund between latitudes 60° 03,0′ N ja 60° 03,6′ N in Ledskär parallel fairway.
4. Ost Prästskär: Buoys Strömmingsgrundet and Prästskärskobben – buoy Prästkär itä between latitudes 60° 02,6′ N and 60° 03,5′ N in Nyhamn-Rödskär fairway. The prohibition does not apply to meeting and overtaking situations in which at least one of the vessels has a maximum length of less than 45 meters.
5. Ljungö: Buoy Sånöklubb – sector light Ljungö between longitudes 020º 40,7’ E and 020º 42,0’ E in Nyhamn-Rödskär fairway.
6. Hjulgrund: Buoys Apotekaren – Inre Julholmskläppen between longitudes 020º 22,2’ E and 020º 23,5’ E in Apteekkari fairway.
7. Rönngrund: Buoy Paukut – Buoy Kruununmaa between latitudes 60º 17,3’ N and 60º 16,3’ N in Isokari-Lövskär fairway.
8. Kungsholm: Edge mark Kungsholm – buoy Skäri between latitudes 60° 29,7′ N and 60° 30,4′ N in Isokari-Lövskär fairway. The prohibition does not apply to meeting and overtaking situations in which at least one of the vessels has a maximum length of less than 45 meters.
9. Suntinkari - Nuhja: Buoys Suntinkari and Ruuhikivikko – Nuhja between longitudes 021° 19,0′ E and 021° 22,1′ E in Hepokari fairway.

The meeting and overtaking prohibition areas do not apply to tugs when they are assisting within the meeting and overtaking prohibition area, or to vessels performing icebreaking assistance.

In Port of Turku: 

Kuuva light (60º24.4’N 022º07.5’E)–Jänissaari light (60º25.3’N 022º10.9’E)

• The prohibition is not applied to meetings between small commuter ferries; ferry boats; charter vessels, authorities’ boats; buoy tenders; oil-combatting vessels; fishing vessels or harbour tugs. Small craft must however not hamper the passage of larger vessels.

Jänissaari light–Port of Turku:

• The prohibition does not apply to cargo vessels which due to their size are able to meet safely (vessels with LOA under 100 m). In addition, cargo vessels are required to agree between themselves on meeting and both vessels approve the meeting. The meeting requires permission from VTS as well. 
• The prohibition is not applied to meetings between small commuter ferries; ferry boats; charter vessels, authorities’ boats; buoy tenders; oil-combatting vessels; fishing vessels or harbour tugs. Agreeing on meeting or permission from VTS are not required for these vessels.

Pansio fairway, the fairway section from the western limit of the Turku harbour area to Pansio oil and ferry harbour as well as the fairway to Perno Shipyard

• Meeting prohibited for large tankers.
• The prohibition does not apply to tankers with LOA under 50 m.

Late fairway in the Port of Turku area

• Meeting prohibited for all vessels.

When assisting winter navigation, icebreaker or harbour tug may deviate from the prohibitions in the sections 7-10, when the assistance of vessel traffic does not endanger other traffic. However, VTS must be contacted in these cases.

1. In the Apteekkari fairway between buoy Märrskär and buoy Julkläpp 24 km/h
2. Smörgrund–Keitsor 28 km/h
3. Keitsor–Lilla Björnholm 32 km/h
4. In the vicinity of the Korpo ferry (Retais front–Holstasnäs) 16 km/h
5. Stormälö–Haverö 28 km/h
6. Rajakari–Ajonpää 22 km/h
7. Rajakari–Kuuva 26 km/h
8. Kuuva–Buoy T18A 16 km/h
9. Buoy T18A–Turku 11 km/h
10. Svartholm–Hallonholm 22 km/h 
11. Tallholm–Hallonholm 22 km/h
12. Maanpää-Jänissaari in the Pukinsalmi fairway 46 km/h

A vessel must always notify both the VTS and the Finnish Border Guard when anchoring in Finland’s territorial waters. The vessel must make the notification either itself or through its agent. In addition, a vessel anchoring in territorial waters is required to make an electronic customs declaration, even if the vessel is not going to call at a Finnish port.

After leaving a port in Finland, the vessel must also check with the Finnish Border Guard whether anchoring in Finnish territorial waters is possible. Also in this case, a vessel remaining at anchor must make an electronic customs declaration.

Anchoring in the Ajonpää anchorage area (Port of Naantali):

• Only one vessel at a time is allowed in the anchorage area
• The maximum length over all (LOA) is 120 m
• Permission to anchor is granted by Archipelago VTS 
• The anchorage area is intended for short-term anchoring, maximum 12 hours. In order to exceed the 12-hour limit, a new permission to anchor is required.
• Vessels must request permission to leave anchorage area 20 minutes prior to weighing anchor. 
• Vessels at anchor must ensure that the vessel under no circumstances starts drifting into the fairway area
• The anchorage area must not be used if the wind speed exceeds 15 m/s

1. Remotely operated AtoNs

Upon request, VTS can adjust the brightness of aids to navigation in the Långnäs-Färjsundet (Godby) fairway.

2. Permanent Virtual AtoNs (V-AIS)

There are no permanent V-AIS-AtoNs in the Archipelago VTS area.

3. Fault Reporting

AtoNs not working correctly? Please inform Archipelago VTS by VHF radio on channel 71 or call Turku Radio 0800-181818. 

Use of channels that deviates from the channel design refers to a situation where a vessel uses a channel in a manner that deviates from the channel’s design and the adequacy of the channel space cannot be ensured based on the design. If the vessel’s static draught is greater than the channel’s design draught taking into account the current water level, the vessel shall ensure that her net under keel clearance remains adequate and demonstrate it to the VTS Centre that is responsible for monitoring the fairway.

Vessel’s operator, agent or master shall give the notice of channel use at least 24 hours before its arrival at the pilot boarding position, or if the vessel is expected to arrive in less than 24 hours, no later than when the vessel has left the port of departure for a Finnish port. A vessel departing a Finnish port shall give the notice of channel use as soon as possible, at latest when the departure report is given.

The notice of channel use shall include the following items:

A. Vessel’s name

B. Which channel or part of channel the vessel is intending to use in a manner that deviates from the channel design

C. What is the manner that deviates from the channel design

D. Length between perpendiculars LBP and Breadth

E. Static Draught

F. Centre of Buoyancy, KB

G. Centre of Gravity, KG

H. Metacentric Height, GM

I. Block Coefficent, Cb

When ensuring the adequate net UKC and giving the notice of channel use, it is recommended to utilize the tools provided by the Finnish Transport and Infrastructure Agency. The notice of channel use can be given in the form of a squat calculation made with the Squat Calculator with regard to items D–I. The calculation can be shared as a link, or as a pdf-printout sent by e-mail to the VTS Centre. When using the Squat Calculator, it is enough to write the information of points A–C in the e-mail.

In Archipelago VTS, Bothnia VTS, Saimaa VTS and West Coast VTS monitoring areas the notice of channel use should be sent to the email address supervisors.west@fintraffic.fi. Title the email “Notice of channel use”.

Turku

Vessels are required to report to the Port of Turku two hours prior to arrival at the port. Ship services are ordered from the Port of Turku.

Vessels operating according to a regular timetable in liner service have the right of way. 

In the harbour area permission to change berths or turn at the quay must be requested from the Port of Turku. Permission to use anchor must be requested from the VTS.

The port regulations of the city of Turku and the port instructions must be followed in the area.

Contact information to the port 24 h:

• phone                   +358 2 2674 122
• e-mail                    satamavalvonta@portofturku.fi
• VHF channel         12 (not monitored continuously, only during mooring and unmooring)

Naantali

Vessels are required to maintain a listening watch on VHF channel 11 in the harbour area.

When passing Neste Ltd.’s oil harbour, vessels must keep a safe distance to the harbour (marked on the map). A temporary crossing of the border is allowed for safety reasons with the approval of Archipelago VTS or by their recommendation. Vessels shall always report the crossing to the VTS.

Vessels operating according to a regular timetable in liner service have the right of way. 

The port regulations of the city of Naantali and the port instructions must be followed in the area.

Ship services are ordered from the Port of Naantali.

Port surveillance, contact information:

• phone                    +358 44 733 4550
• e-mail                    satama@portofnaantali.fi
• VHF channel          11

• Fläckgrund

  59°52.90′N        022°48.45′E

• Isokari  S

  60°42.10′N        020°59.90′E

• Isokari N

  60°44.53′N        020°54.51′E

• Lillmälö

  60°13.84′N        022°06.61′E

• Marhällan

  60°0.96′N          019°50.05′E

• Nyhamn

  59°56.30′N        019°56.30′E

• Utö A

  59°42.73′N        021°20.32′E

• Utö B

  59°45.50′N        021°21.00′E

• Utö C

  59°47.00′N        021°20.75′E