The work was carried out by Trinity House, the General Lighthouse Authority responsible for providing aids to navigation for the safe navigation of the busy waters.

The introduction followed extensive discussions with users over the need for new and /or additional traffic measures off the Sunk Precautionary Area to mitigate the level of risk. The MCA, together with the UK Safety of Navigation Committee (UKSON), put forward proposals for a new Traffic Separation Scheme and new Outer Precautionary Area. A submission was made to the IMO Navigation Sub Committee in July last year and following approval at the IMO MSC in November the new scheme was implemented at.

In line with the IMO ships routing guide, new aids to navigation are being deployed by Trinity House to ensure the mariner can navigate safely within the scheme. These aids include establishing 11 new class one super buoys and the repositioning of the Sunk Light Vessel which will be renamed Sunk Centre. While the work was undertaken the Sunk will remain fully safely navigable.

The work plan used three General Lighthouse Authority Vessels: Trinity House’s THVs Patricia and Alert, and the Northern Lighthouse Board’s MV Pole Star. This will enabled displacement of the former aid to navigation and replacement of the new to occur in the shortest possible time period.