Coast Guard starts monitors around wind farms

4 November 2025

Since 1 October 2025, the Coast Guard has added a new task: monitoring shipping traffic at sea sailing close to wind farms and shipping lanes.

There is less and less room to move on the North Sea, partly due to the increase in shipping and the expansion of offshore wind farms. This also means that more safety risks may arise. That is why Vessel Traffic Monitoring (VTMon), or ship traffic monitoring in Dutch, was created.

VTMon is not the same as traffic monitoring: the focus is on preventing accidents and not on guiding shipping. Interaction with shipping takes place only when imminent danger or risky situations are signalled, for example. This allows the Coast Guard to intervene more quickly if something threatens to go wrong.

Preparing for the future

With the VTMon task, the Coast Guard is preparing for the future. Right now, the North Sea is still fairly orderly. But the plans and forecasts for 2050 show that it is going to be very busy at sea. Measures are therefore needed to maintain the same level of safety for shipping.

The image below shows a sketch of the situation on the Dutch part of the North Sea anno 2023 and the plans what the situation will look like in 2031.

Since 1 October, the VTMon desk has been operational 24/7. In the first few years, practical experience is being gained in particular to improve VTMon and adapt it to the growth in the number of wind farms. This will provide insight into what equipment and digital support VTMon operators may need and what is a realistic range of tasks for them.

More information

Curious what the rules are for sailing in wind farms? In our article Safe sailing around wind farms at sea, you can read what the difference is between a passage and free passage, how much distance you have to keep from wind turbines and much more!

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