IALA Buoyage System For Mariners – Different Types Of Marks

The development of a uniform system of buoyage throughout the world was of paramount importance for safe navigation at sea.  As traffic lights are used to guide drivers on road, similarly buoys and beacons are indispensable for guiding mariners at sea.

Imagine what would have happened if more than one buoyage system was in use around the world. Different buoyage system means different rules, in complete conflict with one another.  It would cause confusion and lead to accidents.

With the aim of improving navigational safety to act as a barrier to dangers to shipping and to solve differences of opinions, efforts were made to establish a single set of rules by IALA  – INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MARINE AIDS TO NAVIGATION AND LIGHTHOUSE AUTHORITIES, which gave them a choice of using red to port or red to starboard, on a regional basis.

For the sake of maintaining uniformity in buoyage system worldwide, IALA divided the world into two regions – Region A and Region B.

Region A includes Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, the Gulf and some Asian countries