IMO approves new Inmarsat advance in maritime safety services

MAY 23, 2018 — Inmarsat reports that its Fleet Safety solution has been formally approved by IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) as a new service to support the Global Maritime Distress & Safety System (GMDSS).

“Fleet Safety is the most significant advance in maritime safety services since the introduction of GMDSS in 1999,” said Ronald Spithout, President, Inmarsat Maritime, “and restates our commitment to maintaining and improving safety services for the maritime industry.”

Shipowners and operators will now be able to combine maritime safety and broadband data services in a single FleetBroadband or Fleet One terminal provided by Inmarsat.

Shipowners and operators currently deploying FleetBroadband or Fleet One will be able to access GMDSS approved safety services, as well as a number of new safety features only available via the Inmarsat Fleet Safety system, by the addition of a small Maritime Safety Terminal (MST).

Inmarsat says it intends to create a new generation of stand-alone terminals that, in future, will both incorporate FleetBroadband and MST into a single device and deliver higher speeds, in excess of 1 Mbps.

The new service will be delivered over the existing Inmarsat-4 constellation and the new Inmarsat-6 satellites; the first of which is due for launch in 2020.

Fleet Safety includes a new web-based version of SafetyNET, SafetyNET II, the international system for broadcasting and automatic reception of Maritime Safety Information (MSI) and Search and Rescue (SAR) communications.

For Maritime Rescue Coordination Centers (MRCC), Inmarsat has developed RescueNET, a free web-based service linking current and future Inmarsat Safety Services, as well as increasing MRCC capabilities with enhanced, real-time coordination during a search and rescue operation.

NEW GMDSS SERVICE PROVIDERS

The IMO also approved the introduction of a GMDSS service by Iridium on its network, subject to Iridium passing a number of stringent performance tests. The Iridium GMDSS solution is consequently expected to be made available in the early 2020s. The IMO further approved the request of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), a Chinese satellite navigation system, for evaluation of its GMDSS proposal by the IMO’s Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR) sub-committee.

“I would like to congratulate Iridium on achieving approval from the IMO to take their GMDSS proposals to the next stage and also congratulate BeiDou Navigation Satellite System on their successful request for GMDSS evaluation by the NCSR sub-committee,” said Spithout. “We look forward to welcoming them both as GMDSS service providers in the coming years.”