Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)

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Global Maritime Distressand Safety System(GMDSS)
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Basic Concept of the GMDSS

• The fundamental difference between the old and
  the new distress system is that the new system is
  shore centred/coordinated and moves emphasis from
  ship to ship alerting to ship to shore alerting.
  The new system is quicker, simpler and, most
  importantly, more efficient and reliable than the
  old manual Morse Code and radiotelephone alerting
  system. GMDSS is specifically designed to
  automate a ships radio distress alerting
  function, and consequently, remove the
  requirement for manual (human) watch-keeping on
  distress channels.

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• The basic concept of the system is that search
  and rescue authorities ashore, as well as
  shipping in the immediate vicinity of the ship in
  distress, will be rapidly and automatically
  alerted to a distress situation so that they can
  assist in a co-coordinated SAR operation with
  minimum delay. The system also provides for
  urgency and safety communications, and the
  promulgation of maritime safety information (MSI)
  including- navigational and meteorological
  warnings and forecasts, and other urgent safety
  information to ships. In other words, every ship,
  fitted appropriately for GMDSS, is able,
  irrespective of the area in which it operates, to
  perform those communication functions, which are
  essential for the safety of the ship itself and
  of other ships operating in the same area.

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Before
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Now
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Now
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The GMDSS Equipment
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GMDSS Concept
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Functional requirements

• The GMDSS regulations (chapter IV of the
  International SOLAS Convention), require that
  every GMDSS equipped ship shall be capable of

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• 1. Distress alerting Ship to shore
• EPIRB
• Digital Selective Calling (DSC)
• INMARSAT

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2. Distress alerting Shore to ship
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3. Distress alerting Ship to ship
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4. Search and Rescue Co-ordinating Communications
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5. On-Scene Communication
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6. Locating
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7. Transmission/Reception of Maritime Safety
Information
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8. General Radiocommunications
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9. Bridge-to-Bridge Communications
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Application

• The GMDSS applies to vessels subject to the SOLAS
  Convention - that is
• Commercial vessels of 300 Gross Registered Tons
  (GRT) and above, engaged on international
  voyages.
• The GMDSS became mandatory for such vesselsas at
  February 1, 1999.

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1 February 1992 ships may comply with the GMDSS
requirements
1 August 1993 ships must comply with satellite
EPIRB and NAVTEX requirements
1 February 1995 ships built on or after this
date must fully comply with the GMDSS requirements
1 February 1999 ships must comply with the
GMDSS requirements
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Equipment vs Operational requirements

• The major difference between the GMDSS and its
  predecessor systems is that the radio
  communications equipment to be fitted to a GMDSS
  ship is determined by the ship's area of
  operation, rather than by its size.

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• Because the various radio systems used in the
  GMDSS have different limitations with regards to
  range and services provided, the new system
  divides the world's oceans into 4 areas
• Sea Area 1
• Sea Area 2
• Sea Area 3
• Sea Area 4

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GMDSS Sea Area 1

• This area of GMDSS is within the radiotelephone
  coverage of at least one VHF coast station in
  which continuous DSC alerting is available. Such
  area could extend typically 30 50 nautical
  miles from the coast station.

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GMDSS Sea Area 2

• This area of GMDSS is an area excluding sea area
  A1, within the radiotelephone coverage of at
  least one MF coast station in which continuous
  DSC alerting is available. Such area could extend
  typically about 50 400 nautical miles from the
  coast station

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GMDSS Sea Area 3

• This area of GMDSS is an area excluding sea area
  A1 and A2, within the radiotelephone coverage of
  at least one HF coast station in which continuous
  DSC alerting is available. This area lies between
  about latitudes 70º North and South.

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GMDSS Sea Area 4

• This area of GMDSS is an area outside sea area
  A1, A2 and A3.