MARITIME COMMUNICATON

introduction

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 How important is Maritime Industry?

• Maritime transport is the backbone of global trade and

the global economy.
• Next to rail transportation, water transportation is
economically and environmentally the most efficient way
to travel or transport merchandise;
• Nowadays, around 90% of world trade is carried by the
international shipping industry.
 What is the purpose of Maritime Communication?

Ambiguity and confusion are the primary causes of

accidents and untoward incidents that happen onboard
ships and other vessels
 Maritime Disasters caused by miscommunication

• Case #1: Lack of coordination between Master and Pilot

led to contact with pier

– The 329-meter-long cruise ship was to dock at pier when its port bow contacted two of
the pier’s mooring dolphins. None of the 6,023 persons onboard was injured, but damage
to the mooring dolphins and connecting catwalks was estimated at $3.5 million, and
damage to the vessel at $200,000.

– The official investigation report identified lack of communication and coordination

between the master and pilot, which resulted in a poorly executed docking
maneuver, as key cause of the accident. Master and pilot did coordinate the docking
maneuver, but the following communicative weaknesses were identified:
 Maritime Disasters caused by miscommunication

• Case #2: Collision linked to inappropriate VHF use

– The safety investigation concluded that the immediate cause of the collision was
communication between the two vessels over the VHF radio, which continued even when
a close-quarter situation had developed, thus reducing the possibility of timely and
effective corrective action until the collision occurred.

– Although communication is vital to overall efficiency of any operations, the use of VHF
radio for collision avoidance could be dangerous if too much time is spent communicating
with other vessels instead of actually taking avoiding action.

– Important messages in the VHF communication could be either interrupted or not

received clearly due to busy radio traffic.
 Maritime Disasters caused by miscommunication

• A very common funny incident quoted these days –

Someone called up emergency services stating that a
person named Hu met an accident.

• By the time the Emergency services could assert

themselves regarding the identity of the victim and
understand that it was Hu and not Who – the victim had
passed away.
History of Communication on-board
 History of Maritime Communication

• 15th Century A.D.: Maritime

Flag Semaphore
– Since it was difficult to communicate
between ships or between a ship and
land, flag signals were created, with
each position meaning a different
letter or signal. To this day, flag
signals are still in use.
 History of Maritime Communication

• 1844 - Moorse Code was first

used for distress and safety
telecommunication
• Disadvantages of Moorse Code
– its used requires a skilled radio
operators spending many hours
listening to the radio distress
frequency.
– How does Moorse Code works?
https://youtu.be/xsDk5_bktFo
– Moorse Code range on the Medium
Frequency [MF] distress band [500
KHz] is limited
– the amount of traffic it can carry is
also limited
 History of Maritime Communication

• 1867: Signal Lamps

– Vice Admiral Philip Columb
of Britain invented
communication by means
of a signal lamp. Although
Morse code had not been
officially adopted yet,
Columb devised a series of
dots and dashes that were
used to communicate
between ships.
 History of Maritime Communication

• 1990: Marine Radio

– Marine radio was the first
commercial application of
radio technology, allowing
ships to keep in touch with
shore and other ships, and
send out a distress call for
rescue in case of
emergency. Guglielmo
Marconi invented radio
communication in the
1890s, and the Marconi
Company installed wireless
telegraphy stations on ships
beginning around 1900.
 Goal of Maritime Communication Technology

• Bringing new telecommunications technology to mariners

can be difficult, since to be interoperable, the technology
must be affordable, acceptable and available to most
ships and maritime countries.
 Purpose of Communication on board

Mariners not only need to access international shore

telephone and data public switched networks, they need to
be able to
• communicate with other ships of any size or nationality,

• to receive and send urgent maritime safety information,

• to send or receive distress alerts in an emergency to or

from rescue co-ordination centres ashore and nearby

ships anywhere in the world.
TYPES OF MARITIME COMMUNICATION
UNIDIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION
UNIDIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION
Data flows in only one direction
 Public Address System

The public address system should be one complete

system consisting of a loudspeaker installation which
enables simultaneous broadcast of messages from the
navigation bridge, and at least one other location on board
for use when the navigation bridge has been rendered
unavailable due to the emergency to all spaces where crew
members or passengers, or both are normally present and
to assembly stations.
 Public Address System

The public address system should be one complete

system consisting of a loudspeaker installation which
enables simultaneous broadcast of messages from the
navigation bridge, and at least one other location on board
for use when the navigation bridge has been rendered
unavailable due to the emergency to all spaces where crew
members or passengers, or both are normally present and
to assembly stations.
 Public Address System

It should not require any action by the addressee.

It should also be possible to address crew accommodation and work

spaces separately from passenger spaces.

The system should be installed with regard to acoustically marginal

conditions, so that emergency announcements are clearly audible
above ambient noise in all spaces where crew members or
passengers or both are normally present and to assembly stations
How does the Public Address System works?

• It allows you to communicate from

a central panel to multiple or single
areas in a ship.

• Comprises of microphones,
General Alarmn, amplifiers
(depending on the size of the
system) and speakers
 BIDIRECTIONAL
BIDIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION
Bidirectional is a communications mode that is
capable of transmitting data in both directions
(send and receive)