What do ships have to do to comply with GMDSS?
Under SOLAS, every ship, while at sea, must have the facilities for essential communications, namely: – transmitting ship-to-shore distress alerts by at least two separate and independent means; – receiving shore-to-ship distress alerts; – transmitting and receiving ship-to-ship distress alerts; – transmitting and receiving search and rescue co-ordinating communications; – transmitting and receiving on-scene communications – transmitting and (as required) receiving signals for locating; – transmitting and receiving maritime safety information; – transmitting and receiving general radiocommunications to and from shore-based radio systems or networks; and – transmitting and receiving bridge-to-bridge communications. Specific equipment requirements for ships vary according to the sea area (or areas) in which the ship operates. The GMDSS combines various subsystems – which all have different limitations with respect tocoverage – into one overall system, and the oceans are divided into four
