IALA Experts Visit Laotieshan Lighthouse

From August 18 to 22, the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) Digital Technology Committee (DTEC) meeting was held in Dalian. Technical experts from Poland, South Korea, Denmark, Germany, the United States, Japan, Finland, and representatives from the IALA Secretariat gathered in the coastal city. To vividly showcase Dalian's practices in the protection and inheritance of marine aids to navigation to international colleagues, on August 20, the attending experts visited the Laotieshan Lighthouse at Dalian Marine Aids to Navigation Office for on-site tours and exchanges.

The Laotieshan Lighthouse is located at the southwestern cape of Laotieshan in the Lushunkou District of Dalian City, standing on the boundary line between the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea. Built in 1892, it is a national key cultural relic protection unit and has been recognized as a world historical lighthouse by the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities. Over the past century, this lighthouse has witnessed significant historical events such as the rise and fall of the Beiyang Fleet, the First Sino-Japanese War, and both World Wars. It was officially handed over to China for independent management in 1955. As a precious historical relic of marine aids to navigation, it was included in the "China Industrial Heritage Protection List (Second Batch)" in 2019. Its preserved century-old cast iron rivet structure and mercury float Fresnel lens represent the pinnacle of modern marine aids to navigation technology.

This tour route connects the century-old lighthouse with modern AIS stations, seamlessly integrating historical marine aids to navigation relics with contemporary digital navigation facilities. It comprehensively and vividly showcases the iterative evolution of marine aids to navigation technology from traditional manual operation modes to modern intelligent applications. During the visit, Chinese and foreign experts, standing at the forefront of industry development, engaged in in-depth discussions on key topics such as the historical evolution of the lighthouse, long-term maintenance of old equipment, the inheritance of traditional navigation techniques, and differences in marine aids to navigation management experiences between countries. This effectively promoted technical exchange and mutual learning of ideas.