IALA Buoyage System

What Is IALA Buoyage System? 

The International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) has divided its combined Cardinal and Lateral buoyage system into two region 'A' and 'B'. 

Region A includes Europe, Australia, Newzealand, Africa, the Gulf and some Asian Countries. 

Region B comprises North, South and Central America, Japan, Korea and Philippines. 

In Region A, the colour red of the lateral buoyage is used to mark the port side of channels and the colour Green for the starboard side. In Region B, the colour are reversed. 

IALA Buoyage System have a Five type of Marks:

* Lateral Marks

* Cardinal Marks

* Isolated Danger Marks 

* Safe Water Marks 

* Special Mark

LATERAL MARKS : 

The lateral marks are used for well defined channels and show the port and starboard side of the route to be followed. The port hand marks are to be left of the vessel and starboard marks are to be right of the vessel. When approaching a harbour . 

Every buoy is identified by their colour, shape, top marks, light and flashing. 

LATERAL MARKS : REGION A

	Port Hand Marks	Starboard Hand Marks
Colour	Red	Green
Buoy Shape	Cylindrical, Pillar or Spar	Conical, Pillar or Spar
Top mark	Single Red Cylinder	Single Green Cone, point Upwards
Light Colour	Red	Green
Light Rhythm	Apart from Composite Group Flashing  (2+1)	Apart from Composite Group Flashing (2+1)

	Preferred Channel to SB	Preferred Channel to Port
Colour	Red with one broad Green horizontal band	Green with one Red horizontal band
Buoy Shape	Cylindrical, Pillar or Spar	Conical, Pillar or Spar
Top mark	Single Red Cylinder	Single Green Cone, point Upwards
Light Colour	Red	Green
Light Rhythm	Composite Group Flashing  (2+1)	Composite Group Flashing (2+1)

LATERAL MARKS : REGION B

	Port Hand Marks	Starboard Hand Marks
Colour	Green	Red
Buoy Shape	Cylindrical, Pillar or Spar	Conical, Pillar or Spar
Top mark	Single Green Cylinder	Single Red Cone, point Upwards
Light Colour	Green	Red
Light Rhythm	Apart from Composite Group Flashing  (2+1)	Apart from Composite Group Flashing (2+1)

	Preferred Channel to SB	Preferred Channel to Port
Colour	Green with one broad red horizontal band	Red with one Green horizontal band
Buoy Shape	Cylindrical, Pillar or Spar	Conical, Pillar or Spar
Top mark	Single Green Cylinder	Single Red Cone, point Upwards
Light Colour	Green	Red
Light Rhythm	Composite Group Flashing  (2+1)	Composite Group Flashing (2+1)

CARDINAL MARKS :

The Cardinal Marks used in conjunction with the cardinal points of the Compass, to indicates

* where a mariner may find the best navigable water. 

* the deep water is on the named side of the mark. 

* the safe side on which to pass a danger. 

* draw the attention in channel such as a bend, a junction, branch or the end of a shoal. 

  

                                 Cardinal Marks are passed on the named side of the mark. There are four cardinal marks North, South, East and West. Each mark can be identified from one another from their top marks, buoy colours. 

              Suppose vessel heading South and you see a North cardinal mark ahead of the vessel, that means danger beyond the marks stop the vessel and look for other mark, it is safe to turn anywhere. 

	North Cardinal Marks	East Cardinal marks
Colour	Black above Yellow	Black with a single broad horizontal yellow band
Buoy Shape	Pillar or Spar	Pillar or Spar
Top mark	2 Black cones, One above the other, pointing  upward	2 Black cones, One above the other, base to base
Light Colour	White	White
Light Rhythm	VQ = 120 flashes/min Or         Q = 60 flashes/min	VQ (3 flashes) every 5 Sec. OrQ (3 flashes) every 10 Sec.

 

	South Cardinal Marks	West Cardinal marks
Colour	Yellow above Black	Yellow with a single broad horizontal black band
Buoy Shape	Pillar or Spar	Pillar or Spar
Top mark	2 Black cones, One above the other, pointing downward	2 Black cones, one above the other , point to point
Light Colour	White	White
Light Rhythm	VQ (6 flashes) + long flash every 10 sec. Or                       Q (6 flashes) + long flash every 15 sec.	VQ (9 flashes) every 15 Sec. Or                                            Q (9 flashes) every 10 Sec.

ISOLATED DANGER MARKS :

                    An isolated danger mark is used to indicate a hazard to a shipping such as submerged wreck which have navigable water around it. It is moored above the hazard. The double sphere top-mark is an important feature and needs to be visible by day. The top-mark should be as large as possible with the spheres clearly separated.

	Isolated Danger Mark
Colour	Black with one or more broad horizontal red band
Buoy Shape	Optional, but not conflicting with lateral marks; Pillar or Spar preferred
Top mark	2 Black spheres, One above the other
Light Colour	White
Light Rhythm	Group flashing (2)

SAFE WATER MARKS :

                     This shows that there is navigable water all around the mark. Safe water mark can be used as mid channel marks in which case they should always be left on the Mariners port hand so that he keeps to the starboard side of the fairway. It does not mark a hazard. 

	Safe Water Mark
Colour	Red and White vertical stripes
Buoy Shape	Spherical; pillar or spar with spherical topmark
Top mark	Single red sphere
Light Colour	White
Light Rhythm	Isophase, occulting, one long flash every 10 sec or Morse ‘A’

SPECIAL MARKS :

           Special marks are used to show special areas such as traffic separation, spoil grounds or damping grounds where anchoring is unsafe, military exercise area, underwater cables or pipelines, recreation zones etc. 

	Special Mark
Colour	Yellow
Buoy Shape	Optional but not conflicting with navigational marks
Top mark	Single yellow ‘X’ shape
Light Colour	Yellow
Light Rhythm	Any other than those described in cardinal, isolated danger and safe water marks