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Our Mission

To coordinate the safe and efficient transit of vessels in San Francisco Bay in an effort to prevent accidents and the associated loss of life and damage to property and the environment.

We execute our mission by:

MONITORING vessel movements,
INFORMING mariners of other vessels and potential hazards,
RECOMMENDING courses of action when we see a situation that the mariner may not have seen, and
DIRECTING the outcome of situations when necessary to prevent disasters.

The VTS customer satisfaction survey is now active on the NAVCEN website. Please click here to participate. We look forward to your input!

Enjoy your visit to our Web Site. We hope you find the material here useful. Please feel free to contact us for further information.

For free, up to date electronic NOAA chartlets in booklet form, click on NOAA's Experimental BookletCharts™ site.
AIS Destination Codes
The VTS San Francisco User's Manual describes procedures for participation in the VTS, details of San Francisco Bay's Regulated Navigation Areas (RNAs), and includes the full text of applicable Federal Regulations.
The Communications Guide presents an abbreviated guide to communication procedures.
Do you speak Channel 14? Do you always know what we are talking about? This guide will give you a glossary of all the terms we use. Plus the geographical and hydrographical points that we refer to.
The Regulated Navigation Areas have been changed as of February 2004. You may download the full CFR as a .pdf here. (PC users: Right click on link and select "Save Target as" to download, or just left click to read. Mac users: click and hold on link then select "Save link as".) All users will need Adobe Reader to view downloaded .pdf files.Click the "Download Plug-ins" box below to get the necessary plugins.
The History and Fact Sheet provides brief descriptions of some of the more infamous events that have occurred in our over 30 years of service to the maritime community and the nation. They serve as graphic reminders that although we have come a long way since the days of the frequent now-glorified shipwrecks that dot our shorelines, accidents can and do still happen.
Links to other navigation safety-related sites.

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Download Plug-Ins: Some of the links on this page require a plug-in to view them. Links to the plug-ins are available below.

Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF)

Last Modified 4/4/2013