Meaning of TR

[D.J.J. Ring, Jr.]

I learned TR was Transit Report: Name of ship from XXX bound YYY.

The receiving station would send the TR they received to their Marine Traffic Routing Department where the ships information would be updated. 

If RCA station WCC received the TR and the ship was bound for the West Coast, the Marine Traffic Department would plot the estimated course of the ship past RCA Baltimore WMH, past RCA's station in Lantana, FL. The high powered Atlantic station WCC and Pacific station KPH would be sent telegrams when the ship was confirmed to be in the area. ITT/Mackay Marine had it's own Marine Traffic Routing Department. 

A worldwide database of ships and their positions was also maintained by AMVER Headquarters on Governor's Island, New York. 

Perhaps some of our members who worked for AMVER and USCG could add to this and also those involved with UK Post Office stations.

73

R/O David J Ring Jr 

[Larry B]

When GKA was the centre of the Commonwealth 'Area Scheme'. TRs had to be sent from participating ships to advise of their current and next 'Area' they were bound for. All TRs were kept at the ships 'Bureau' which held thousands of details of ships, including name, callsign, Area being monitored, and if vessel QTP or QTO. This would allow for effective and efficient delivery of to-ship traffic. When the scheme ended in 1971, the number of TRs received dropped significantly, but details of ships movements were always welcome, as well as for arranging blind broadcasts of traffic when QTP. If a ship was not listening to GKA, details of the station(s) being monitored would also be tendered to allow for the routeing of to-ship traffic.

When the new computerised traffic handling system came into operation in the early 1980s, details of ships were held in the 'Ships Name File' (SNF) which was maintained daily, and was used to verify names and callsigns before to-ship and from-ship traffic was processed. Ships not in the file would be asked to provide full details for subsequent traffic. The SNF would also note if a ship was on the GKA 'stop list' where accounts were found to be in default, and service refused.

Let me know if more details required....

Larry