UNIT 4

THE GLOBAL MARITIME DISTRESS AND SAFETY SYSTEM

(GMDSS)

Listen to the information on the CD ROM (IMLP) and state the purpose of
GMDSS.

The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System came into force in 1999 and is
part of the International Convention concerning the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).
Its main objective is to prevent accidents by providing Marine Safety Information and at least
minimize consequences of marine accidents by means of effective communication.
GMDSS will enable a vessel to communicate with coastal stations and other vessels at any
time and under any circumstances.

Communication according to the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System comprises:
- transmission of distress alerts to shore-based stations, including locating (homing) of the
vessel in
distress;
- reception of shore-to-ship alerts;
- transmission and reception of ship-to-ship alerts;
- transmission and reception of messages concerning Search and Rescue Operations and On-
Scene
Communications during a SAR operation;
- transmission and reception of radio-signals to indicate or determine positions;
- transmission and reception of safety messages (Maritime Safety Information broadcasts);
- intership-communication, by which is understood communication between vessels.

GMDSS distinguishes four sea-areas:

Sea Area 1

An area within radiotelephone-coverage of at least one VHF-coast station, in which

continuous VHF-DSC-alerting (channel 70) and radiotelephony services are available. This
area extends 30 miles off shore.

Sea Area 2

An area, excluding Sea Area Al, within radiotelephone-coverage of at least one MF-coast
station, in which continuous DSC-alerting (2187.5 kHz) and radiotelephony services are
available. GMDSS-vessels travelling this area must carry a DSC-equipped MF
radiotelephone in addition to equipment required for Sea Area A1. This area extends 200
miles off shore.

Sea Area 3

An area, excluding sea areas Al and A2, within coverage of an Inmarsat geostationary satellite,
in which continuous alerting is available. This area extends between 70 degrees latitude North
and 70 degrees latitude South.
Ships travelling this area must either carry an Inmarsat A, B or C ship/earth station or a DSC-
equipped HF radiotelephone/telex in addition to equipment required for an A1 and A2 Area.

Sea Area A4
The areas outside A1, A2 and A3 are A4-Sea Areas.
Ships travelling these Polar Regions must carry a DSC-equipped HF radiotelephone/telex, in
addition to
equipment required for areas A1 and A2. This area does not have Inmarsat-, but COSPAS-
SARSAT coverage.

RADIOTELEPHONY

A VHF-transceiver (transmitter + receiver) transmits and receives radio signals. The

VHF is used to bridge short distances, is easy to operate and is allowed to be used both in
territorial waters and inland waterways.
Its receiver has a "push-to-talk button". If the installation is a "simplex" radio,
speaking and listening cannot be done simultaneously. When you wish to speak, you push
the button; when you wish to listen you release it. Before changing from speaking to
listening, you say "over".
If the installation is a "duplex" radiotelephone, speaking and listening can be done
simultaneously. Most coast-stations are equipped with semi-duplex installations, with which
speaking and listening can be done simultaneously, while the receiving-end has a simplex-
installation. VHF radio-communication can bridge about 40 miles. MF- or HF
radiotelephony is used to bridge 150 miles (MF) to 2000 miles (HF).
Reception of radio signals will not always be of high quality, and coverage will not
always extend to the desired areas. This may of course have consequences for the safety of the
vessel and her crew. These disadvantages of communication through speech has led to the
introduction of Digital Selective Calling in maritime communication.

DIGITAL SELECTIVE CALLING

Digital Selective Calling on VHF-, MF- and HF-maritime radios is part of the GMDSS.
DSC is intended to digitally announce and initiate ship/ship, ship/shore and shore/ship
radiotelephone- and radiotelex calls. After the announcement has been digitally
acknowledged by the receiving station or ship, communication is usually continued on VHF.
To transmit a DSC-call, a GMDSS-operator enters the required commands to address the station
or ship with which he wishes to communicate, and the priority of the call.
DSC-priorities are:
1 - DISTRESS
2 – URGENCY
3 – SAFETY
4– ROUTINE

A DSC distress-alert consists of a pre-formatted distress message and is used to announce

and initiate emergency communications with vessels and Rescue Co-ordination Centres
(RCC's). Natures of distress that can be entered into the format are: "fire/explosion",
"flooding", "collision", "grounding", "listing", "sinking", "disabled and adrift" and "piracy".
An "undesignated distress" is an alert that has not been formatted (no indication as to the type
of distress has been given).
Distress alerts are automatically addressed to all stations.
A DSC-controller is fitted with a distress-button (indicated by SOS, ALARM, EMER or
DISTRESS), which allows the transmission of a distress call with minimum delay.
Urgency, safety and routine calls can be addressed to all stations or ships, an individual station
or ship, or a group of stations or ships.
Once the call has been composed, the CALL-button is pressed on the DSC controller
and the information is transmitted. It is recommended that DSC controllers be interfaced to
Global PositioningSystem-receivers for an updating of position- and time information, which is
automatically included in the message.
After an alert by DSC and the acknowledgement that the alert has been received,
communication is normally carried out by RadioTelephony (speech) or radio-telex.

MARITIME MOBILE SERVICE IDENTITY CODE

A DSC-installation on board a vessel or at a coast station has been programmed with a unique
nine-digit identification code, known as "Maritime Mobile Service Identity" (MMSI).
The MMSI is sent automatically with each DSC-transmission.
The first three digits of the MMSI are known as the Maritime Identification Digits (MID).
The MID represents the country of registration of the vessel, or the country in which the
DSC shore station is located.
In the voice-transmission that may follow after the DSC-announcement and
acknowledgement, the vessel or station may be identified by the MMSI-code, which
should then be pronounced in groups of three digits.
Like so:"............ , this is two two four ...........six eight five .............zero zero zero".
Note that in spoken communication the use of the vessel's MMSI is only applied
in Distress -, Urgency - and Safety messages.

INMARSAT

Satellite systems operated by the International Mobile Satellite Organisation

(Inmarsat) are very important elements of the GMDSS. Inmarsat-satellites are
geostationary, which means that their positions in space with respect to the earth
remain the same. Communication by means of Inmarsat-satellites extends in an
area between 70 degrees latitude North and 70 degrees latitude South and has
been divided into 4 Inmarsat-regions:

- Atlantic Ocean Region West (AOR-W)

- Atlantic Ocean Region East (AOR-E)
- Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
- Pacific Ocean Region (POR).

The Inmarsat-A and B installation provide ship/shore, ship/ship and shore/ship telephone,
telex and high-speed data services.
The Inmarsat-C provides ship/shore, shore/ship and ship/ship, store-and-forward data
and telex messaging and can send preformatted distress messages to a Rescue Co-
ordination Centre.
Communication by means of speech is not possible with Inmarsat-C.
The Inmarsat-C SafetyNET service is a satellite-based world-wide maritime safety information
broadcast service. It works similarly to NAVTEX in areas outside NAVTEX coverage.
NAVTEX

NAVTEX is a component of the World Wide Navigational Warning

Service (WWNWS) and must be installed on GMDSS-vessels in order to be able
to receive Maritime Safety Information-messages. It is a telex-receiver that can
print MSI-messages. These navigational messages are addressed "to all vessels"
and contain information concerning meteorological warnings, SAR-operations and
other important and urgent data.

EPIRB

An Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon is a small radio-transmitter able to

transmit UHF-distress signals. These signals are received by satellites and relayed to
Rescue-Co-ordination Centres. An EPIRB will be released from the vessel-in-distress by
hand, or automatically by a hydrostatic release mechanism once the beacon has been
submerged for a few metres in case of shipwreck. It will be activated automatically and will
start to transmit a distress alert to Rescue-Co-ordination Centres via satellite, giving position
and identification of the vessel.

SEARCH AND RESCUE RADAR TRANSPONDER

The GMDSS installation aboard vessels includes two or more Search-and- Rescue
Radar Transponders. A SART will be activated by the radar of a passing vessel. It will then
start to transmit an alert that will create a series of dots on the RRI (Plan Position Indicator -
radar display) of the same vessel, which will then have the means to locate the distressed raft
or vessel. The detection range between SART and SAR-Unit depends on the height of the
ship's radar mast and the height of the SART in the survival craft.

COSPAS-SARSAT

COSPAS-SARSAT is an international satellite-based search and rescue

system, established by Canada, France, the U.S.A. and Russia. Unlike the
Inmarsat-satellites, these satellites are not geostationary, but orbit the earth on a
North/South- and South/North path, passing closely over both poles. It is the
only system that offers a means to contact distant stations. The system offers a
satellite Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB).
COMPREHENSION

I. Answer the following questions:

a) What is GMDSS?
b) What is the aim of GMDSS?
c) What is the difference between “Simplex-“ and “Duplex” VHF?
d) What is the main difference between INMARSAT satellites and
COSPAS/SARSAT satellites?
e) What does a Navtex message generally contain?

II. Mention the communication equipment required in the GMDSS – Areas

A1, A2, A3 and A4.

A1:

A2:

A3:

A4:

III. Explain the working of an EPIRB and SART.

IV. Match the image to each of the following: DSC, NAVTEX, EPIRB.

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