September 24, 2020

Availability of equipment

As far as the availability of equipment is concerned, there are three options: At sea maintenance. Shore based maintenance. Duplication of equipment. Ships operating in areas A1 and A2 must nominate one option. Ships operating in areas A3 and A4 must nominate two options. Details of the options applicable are […]
September 24, 2020

Non-GMDSS vessels and radio communication services

It is compulsory for SOLAS vessels to have GMDSS equipment. This includes all passenger vessels and cargo vessels of 300 gross tons and above on international voyages. There are also a very large number of vessels that don’t undertake international voyages and do not have to comply with GMDSS, ie […]
September 24, 2020

Maritime mobile service identity (MMSI) numbers

Each GMDSS ship station is allocated its own unique nine digit MMSI number which is included automatically in each DSC call made by the station. Included in the MMSI number are the maritime identification digits (MID) which identify the country licencing/controlling the station. Three types of MMSI numbers are in […]