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GLOBAL MARITIME DISTRESS and

SAFETY SYSTEM (GMDSS):An Overview

Prof. Mohamed A. Aboul - Dahab

Dean of College of Engineering and TechnologyARAB ACADEMY FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MARTITIME

TRANSPORT

ITU Joint Regional Conference on

Disaster: Relief and Management: International Cooperation & Role of ICTAlexandria , EGYPT

14-17 April 2007

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CONTENTS

* The Old Systemand its Drawbacks.

* Introduction of the GMDSS.

* Implementation of The GMDSS.

* Sailing Areas.

* The GMDSS Sub-Systems .

* Coast Stations in Egypt.

* Rescue of Achilli-Lauro.

* Conclusion.

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The Old System

The old system for distress and safety asspecified by the 1974 SOLAS conventionrelies on:

1 ) Manual operation of :

a) Morse telegraph on 500 kHz ( MF range) .b) Radiotelephone on 2182 kHz ( MF range ) .

c) Radiotelephone on 156.8 MHz ( CH.16 on

VHF range ).

2) Audible reception of distress signals on the above

frequencies .

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The Old System

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Drawbacks of the Old System

* Distress signals are audible and need awell qualified operator.

*

Rescue operations are possible within arange of 200 n.m. only.

* Ship in distress does not receive any

acknowledgment in reply to its distress

signals.

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Introduction of The GMDSS

* Introduced by the IMO in 1979.

* Started operation in Feb. 1992.

* Has become mandatory since Feb. 1999.

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Implementation of the GMDSS

System

* Objective.

* Functions.

*

Subsystems.

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Objective

The objective of the Global

Maritime Distress and Safety

System (GMDSS) is to provide an

effective search and rescue systemon a global basis using advanced

technology of satellite andterrestrial communications.

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Communication Functions of

GMDSS

* Alerting.* SAR coordinating communications.

* On-scene communications.* Locating.

* Promulgation of MSI.* General radio communications.

*

Bridge- to- Bridge communications.

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GMDSS Sub-systems

* Digital Selective Calling (DSC) {MF,HF,VHF}.* INMARSAT.

* COSPAS-SARSAT.* Search and Rescue Radar Transponder

(SART).

* NAVTEX.

* Enhanced Group Call (EGC).

* MF/HF Radiotelephony (R/T).

* VHF Radiotelephony.

* HF Narrow Band Direct Printing(NBDP).

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Sailing Areas

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Sailing Areas

* Sea Areas A1:

Within range of VHF coast station withcontinuous DSC alerting available (about 20-30

nautical miles).

* Sea Areas A2:

Beyond area A1, about within range of MF

coastal stations with continuous DSC alerting

available (about 100 nautical miles).

Sailing Areas (contd)

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Sailing Areas (cont d)* Sea Areas A3:

Beyond the first two areas, but withincoverage of geostationary maritimecommunication satellites (in practice this meanINMARSAT). This covers the area betweenroughly 70oN and 70oS.

* Sea Areas A4:the remaining sea areas. The most important

of these is the sea around the North pole (the

area around the South pole is mostly land).Geostationary satellites, which are positionedabove the equator, cannot reach this far.

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GMDSS Sub-Systems

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1.Digital Selective Calling(DSC)

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2. INMARSAT

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i. Space Segment

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ii.Coast Earth Station (CES)

* Establish communication between the

terrestrial network and the SES.

* It is the gateway between two SESs.

* Operates on the C-band (6/4 GHz).

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S S

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iii.Ship Earth Stations

(SESs)

There are three types of ship earth stations:

INMARSAT A.

INMARSAT B.

INMARSAT C.

Ship Earth stations operate in the L-band (1.6/1.5

GHz)

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3. COSPAS-SARSAT

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COSPAS-SARSAT Satellites

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Emergency Position Indicating

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Emergency Position Indicating

Radio Beacons (EPIRB)

These devices transmit a continuous

signal on which rescue units can home.

The signal can be activated manually but

the EPIRB must also be able to float freeand being signaling automatically in the

event of a sudden accident (such as theship capsizing before any other form of

signal can be given).

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4. Search And Rescue

Radar Transponder

(SART)

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Location (1) of SART in the survival raft

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Location (2) of SART in the survival raft

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5. NAVTEX

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NAVTEX

NAVTEX is an international, automated

system for instantly distributing maritimenavigational warnings, weather

forecasts and warnings, search andrescue notices and similar information

to ships.

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6. Enhanced Group Call(EGC)

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Inmarsat Enhanced Group Calls (EGC) services

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Safety NET message addressed to a circular area

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Safety NET message addressed to a rectangular area

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16 NAVAREAs / METAREAs Showing Inmarsat Ocean Regions

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7. MF/HF Radiotelephony

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8. VHF Radiotelephony

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9. Narrow Band DirectPrinting (NBDP)

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DSC Coast Stations in EGYPT

III Egypt Main Alexandria Radio 006221111 3111'.38 N 02954'.30 E 22.7 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Marsa Matrouth 006221111 3121'.21 N 02714'.25 E 22.7 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Ras-Alhkima 006221111 3108' 40 N 02749' 30 E 24 8 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cair

EGYPT SEA AREAS A1 & A2

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III Egypt Monitor Ras-Alhkima 006221111 31 08 .40 N 027 49 .30 E 24.8 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cair

III Egypt Monitor Al-Dabaa 006221111 3101'.36 N 02828'.10 E 27.5 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC CairoIII Egypt Monitor Al-Alamein 006221111 3050'.50 N 02855'.48 E 24.8 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Sidi-Kerir 006221111 3102'.19 N 02938'.97 E 24.8 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Bourg-Rashid 006221111 3127'.17 N 03022'.18 E 27 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cair

III Egypt Monitor Baltim 006221111 3133'.09 N 03105'.19 E 27 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Main Port Said Radio 006221113 3115'.28 N 03219'.19 E 21.1 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Ras El Barr 006221113 3130'.30 N 03149'.99 E 27 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Beir Al Abd 006221113 3102'.00 N 03300'.00 E 27 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor El Arish 006221113 3107'.00 N 03348'.00 E 27 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Ismailia 006221113 3035'.49 N 03216'.27 E 24.3 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Suez 006221113 2958'.00 N 03233'.00 E 21.6 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Monitor Zaafarana 006221113 2907'.00 N 03239'.00 E 27 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Main Alexandria Radio 006221111 3111'.00 N 02951'.00 E 200 Operational PS MF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

III Egypt Main Port Said Radio 006221113 3119'.00 N 03218'.00 E 200 Operational PS MF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

IX Egypt Main Kosseir Radio 006221112 2606'.38 N 03417'.06 E 28.1 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC CairoIX Egypt Monitor Ras-Gharib 006221112 2821'.44 N 03304'.08 E 28.1 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

IX Egypt Monitor Zeitiya 006221112 2748'.74 N 03334'.40 E 28.6 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

IX Egypt Monitor Hurghada 006221112 2715'.15 N 03348'.02 E 28.1 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cair

IX Egypt Monitor Safaga 006221112 2644'.51 N 03356'.00 E 28.1 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

IX Egypt Monitor Sharm El Sheikh 006221112 2751'.37 N 03413'.20 E 23.8 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC CairoIX Egypt Monitor Dahab 006221112 2828'.61 N 03429'.35 E 22.7 Operational PS VHF 24 hrs RCC Cairo

IX Egypt Main Kosseir Radio 006221112 2607'.00 N 03417'.00 E 200 Operational PS MF 24 hrs RCC Cair

Rescue operation ofAchilli Lauro

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On the 1st of December 1994, there was a fireon board the Italian passenger ship Achilli Lauro.The ship was sailing in the the Arabian Sea

(nearby to Somalia).The ship had not been equipped with the GMDSSfacilities (it was not mandatory at that time),

hence it transmitted a distress signal using Morsecode on 500 KHz.

A vessel with a call sign HSDL has received the

distress message and relayed it, where it hadbeen received by another vessel called CoridalExpress .

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The ship had re-transmitted the signal throughan Inmarsat- A equipment where the MRCC in

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Stavanger (Norway) had received it. The center has relayed the signal to the MRCCin Falmouth(U.K.).

The duty officer at the Falmouth MRCC hadcommunicated with all the vessels sailing in thearea, and informed them about the distress signal

he received .Tanker Lima was one of them. Since tanker Lima had been well equippedwith communication facilities, It had been

selected by the duty officer to take the commandof the rescue operations. It had been instructed tocommunicate with all other vessels for this

purpose.

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Lima had chosen a tanker called Hawaiian King thatwas very close to Achilli Lauro, to communicate viaVHF equipment to investigate the situation.

The crew of Achilli Lauro had told Lima that allpassenger and crew had been safely evacuated, andmoved to the life rafts.

Hawain King had selected other two nearby vessles topick up the rescued passengers and crew (around 900).

All rescued persons were on board the three vesselswithin 9 hours of the transmission of the initial distresssignal.

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Conclusion

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GMDSS is mainly an integrated

telecommunication system that is intended toimprove the search and rescue operations

for ships in distress.

Since its introduction in 1992, it helpedmuch in achieving safety of life at sea.

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Thank You for Your Kind Attention