PRINCE Andrew is to launch a major new maritime safety system that will raise the alarm on dangerous situations and vessels breaking speed limits in the Solent.

The state-of-the-art radar equipment is a £1m investment in safety for the thousands of mariners, yachtsmen and boating enthusiasts who use the waters off the Hampshire coastline.

Installation of the system, capable of tracking 1,600 separate vessels with great accuracy, improves cover in and around Portsmouth Harbour and the eastern part of the Solent up to the Nab Tower.

The system is digitally linked with Southampton Docks to provide a single co-ordinated vessel traffic management system across the eastern Solent for all military and merchant vessels bound to and from either port.

Nerve centre of the Portsmouth element of the system is Harbour Control, housed in Portsmouth Dockyard's Sema-phore Tower. From here staff oversee 90,000 maritime movements a year, including 1,000 cross-Channel and 50,000 Isle of Wight ferry journeys. These figures do not include the 5,000 yachts berthed in Portsmouth Harbour, or the 40,000 craft that are based in the Solent area generally, or the hundreds that visit each year from France and ports further afield.

The system records all radar, radio and telephone communications for subsequent analysis if necessary, and a high-resolution closed circuit television system will give coverage of the harbour day and night.

In the event of an emergency or major incident, either Portsmouth Harbour Control or the Vessel Traffic Services hub in the port of Southampton will be able to assume control over operations within both shipping areas.

After being given a briefing and demonstration of the system, the Duke of York will unveil a plaque commemorating his visit and the inauguration of the system.

The duke will then move on to Vosper Thornycroft's shipbuilding yard at Portchester before touring the company's base in Woolston, Southampton to observe progress on the construction of the huge superyacht, Mirabella V.

The yacht, the biggest single-masted craft in the world, is due to be launched this year and is being built for chartering in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.