It’s the classic scenario from the Academy… You are the stand on vessel with no room to maneuver and a zero CPA contact is bearing down on you. You try the radio but no answer… what do you do next?
This post doesn’t answer the question but gives you other options not available when you were at the academy.
Use your AIS & VHF DSC:
- Head to the AIS and get the contact’s MMSI number & name
- Enter the number into your VHF DSC controller
- Select a working frequency.
- Hit send then start hailing on the working channel
What happens next is the GMDSS alarm will go off and his VHF will change to a working frequency. If he was away from the bridge he’ll have to return to silence the alarm at which point he hears your hail.
What if the alarm doesn’t wake him or he has it disabled?
CALL HIS BOSS
- Get his name from the AIS.
- Look him up in your ITU pub.
- Find his INMARSAT-B number and call him.
Why does this work? As it was explained to me “Most captains have an INMARSAT-B extension in their office, most captains spend most of their time in their office. Most of the time the captain will answer the phone and rectify the problem post-haste.” …smile
*This post comes from our extensive gCaptain Archives. To find more interesting articles from the past use the search bar or click on one of the “Tags” found in our sidebar —>
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Tags: · Communication, Maritime Expert, Radio, tips, Uncategorized
We have already seen how the Red Cross and United States Coast Guard has successfully implemented Twitter in their effort to dissimenate information and update participants during times of emergency. Has the US Navy joined the social media revolution to help combat piracy in Somali waters? Well in it’s own way (of course). Bloomberg Tells us:
In the command room of the Psara, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Greek officers watched a computer screen updating the positions of 17 warships. Another computer showed the location of 300 merchant ships, potential prey spread over 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers).
The tracking is done with a mix of Global Positioning System navigation and Centrix, a military-communication system developed by NATO, as well as a Web site specially developed for the mission on which commercial ships enter their positions.
Since late January, Papaioannou also has had a new tool: a third computer in the command room carries an Internet chat channel. On a recent visit, sailors from the Psara, two U.S. warships and the Spanish frigate SPS Victoria were exchanging instant messages in English about their positions and about unconfirmed reports of a fire on board a boat in Somalia’s Mogadishu harbor.
In a corner of the room, which bristled with radar and radio equipment, hung a Jolly Roger flag. Black-and-white photos of suspected pirate ships were tacked to the wall.
The EU formed the Atalanta mission after Somali pirates in September seized a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and, in November, a Saudi tanker carrying fuel. Task Force 151 will grow to six this month with the arrival of frigates from Singapore and Turkey.
The coordination paid off on March 3, when the freighter MV Courier, operated by German shipping company Gebrueder Winter, sent a distress signal at 10:12 a.m. local time as it came under grenade fire from a skiff. Read More…
While the implementation of Automated Identification System (AIS) has been revolutionary in its ability to track and communicate with ships, AIS gives us only a small peak into the capabilities Information Technology has to change the way we operate ships. By integrating real time chat, the multinational forces in the area suddenly are able to coordinate their efforts, a powerful tool previously not available to them. Here’s an example of the problems they faced: [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Communication, GMDSS, Navy, piracy, twitter
No it’s not Broadband RADAR but…
We have some exciting news from the team at KVH Industries. Here’s a clip from their press release:
Taking a major step toward expanding availability of the mini-VSAT Broadband service, KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq: KVHI) today announced that it has signed a 5-year agreement with GE International Holdings, Inc., (also known as SAT-GE) to lease satellite capacity on its GE-23 satellite to provide coverage in the Pacific Ocean via the satellite’s North Pacific Ku-band Beam. Expected to go live in December 2008, the new coverage area will include Alaska, the west coasts of Canada and the United States, Hawaii and extend into Asia. It represents a significant expansion in the availability of the increasingly popular mini-VSAT Broadband Internet and voice service as well as the latest milestone in the KVH and ViaSat joint effort to provide affordable mobile broadband connections around the globe.
“The extension of mini-VSAT Broadband coverage into the Pacific will allow us to support a significant portion of the world’s shipping lanes, including blue water coverage between Asia and ports in the U.S. and Canada,” said Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH’s chief executive officer.
VSAT is the technology that allowed our founder, John Konrad, to start this site while still shipping. While he was based in the Gulf Of Mexico his drillship utilized this technology to offer wireless internet in the accommodations of his ship. This worked because the vessel had a long term contract within the footprint of a VSAT provider. Ships operating internationally have been less fortunate relying on INMARSAT to relay basic email due to the prohibitively high expense for purchasing the satellite receivers and paying for bandwidth on a metered rate plan. [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Communication, communication_satellite, inmarsat, internet, KVH, Marine Technology
I don’t have many pictures of my father but I recently ran across one posted on the website of his fire company “Rescue 3“. Following Vietnam and the Physician Assistant program at Cornell he joined the Fire Department of New York and was soon accepted into the department’s elite company Rescue 3.
These were the “War Years” and the Bronx was burning. He didn’t talk much about the fires so when he did I hung on every word. One day he was discussing the severity of the situation in the Bronx with an out of state firefighter and said “How many massive, fully engulfed fires with multiple casualties have you seen in your career? There were weeks I saw 5 or 6 per night!”.
What does this have to do with Marine Firefighting? [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · agent_orange, Communication, disoriented, elite_company, fdny, fighting_fires, firefighter, Firefighting, fire_company, marine_firefighting, mayday, professional_firefighters, rescue_3, tips, vietnam
gCaptain’s all time favorite TV commercial and worst nightmare.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6077326441742307086
Funniest video of last year! Thanks, Berlitz
(Is your company blocking access? View the file here: LINK )
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Tags: · 911, coast_guard, Communication, distress, funny, german_coast_guard, GMDSS, Humor, Interesting, sinking, sos, tv_commercial, Video, youtube
If we only had one technology related wish for 2008 it would be that every mariner watched this video. Reminder: This is important people!
FROM WIRED:
While micro-messaging service Twitter may be one of the best tools for citizen reporting in emergencies such as the Southern California wildfires, the service’s real usefulness is its ability to get messages to users’ friends and family and provide evacuation updates — even when cell networks are overloaded, according to homeland security consultant W. David Stephenson.
As important as the updates you wrote about, they’re nowhere near as important as using Twitter to let your family know you’re ok (instead of cell calls, which every time they’re used in disasters end up crashing the network — and don’t get through, either): because they’re packet based, they’re cued up until they can route around obstacles or gaps in the network, and the 140-character limit means they take up a tiny amount of bandwidth, leaving it for those who need it most.
Even cooler, Stephenson tells THREAT LEVEL, are the Red Cross’s Twitter channels.
* The redcross channel lets them push information during a mass evacuation. Since cellphone customers can sign up for Twitter ‘on the fly,’ they will encourage evacuees to text ‘FOLLOW REDCROSS’ to 40404, and sign up for updates. The messages will include information about where the shelters are, distribution sites, and other contact info.
* The safeandwell channel is used more for inbound communication. Those who text ‘FOLLOW SAFEANDWELL’ to 40404 will automatically be followed back. That means they can send their private information as a Direct Message to the American Red Cross. (’D SAFEANDWELL Larry Melman, 205-xxx-xxxx, 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Bay Minette, is safe in a shelter.’) That maintains the privacy of the individual, and also serves to funnel the information to a centralized database.
Stephenson shows how to use Twitter in emergencies in this episode of his video series 21st Century Disaster Tips You Won’t Hear From Officials:
Thanks to Jesse Robbins for the find.
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Tags: · Communication, disasters, emergencies, hurricane, Maritime, pownce, preparedness, red cross, twitter, wired
Earlier this week I received a request from our friend Ben Ellison at Panbo to poll our readers on the use of AIS. He was especially concerned with the upcoming release of AIS-B, vessel tracking system for boaters, and how the watch officers of large ships expected to process the increasingly large amounts of data on their radar screens. You can read that post HERE.
While writing the post I was curious about the other side of the equation namely, what do experienced boaters think about us? To answer my questions I contacted our friend Richard Rodriguez of BitterEnd blog, an experienced vessel assist Captain on one of nation’s busiest inland waterways; the Puget Sound. Here is his reply;
1) What should ships worry about when interacting with boats?
That most boats have no clue as to how to interact with ships. In the Licensing Courses I teach, I used to be surprised when folks indicated that they didn’t know ships do not guard channel 16. Ships should be afraid, very afraid, as most boats don’t have a clue, as to what to do or how to do it when they encounter a ship. Easily 1/3 of the boats I tow in the season, can’t give their Lat/Long, even though the have a GPS, let alone know about what to do related to ships. Boats usually run the other way; expect the unexpected.
2) Top 10 things I wish ships did to make boating safer?
1. Call a Securité, on channel 16, to announce a departure from norm.
2. Slowed down, when transiting congested waterways.
3. Occasionally use channel 16 when unsure of a boat’s action.
4. – 10. I’ll let readers fill in the blanks in the comment section.
3) Top 5 close calls I’ve had with ships.
1. Hiding out in the Sep Zone as I was waked by ships on either side of me.
2. Being in restricted visibility with out a radar, before I knew the rules and almost hitting a CG Cutter off the Columbia Bar.
3. Attempting to beat a 900′ USNS RoRo across the lanes. – I lost.
4. – 5. I’ll let readers fill in the blanks in the comment section.
4) Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range… how to tell if a boater is unable to get out of the way.
CBDR – now there’s a concept. Joe Blow thinks that if he bumps the throttle a few hundred RPM’s that he can beat you across the VTS lanes. He has no idea that you’re pumping 20+ kts, five to seven miles away when he starts across the (1.25 nm) lanes at 5.5 kts.
5) Lessons learned from my years boating the Puget Sound.
Conditions change – be prepared for the worst case scenario. Always have a plan B and a plan C.
Practice, practice, practice. Can you navigate with traditional tools? If you’re a sailor – can you make it to your slip under sail? When was the last time you did a man overboard drill?
By all means remember that S**T HAPPENS. If you think that something is about to happen, it is “Deemed to Exist.” Don’t put your head in the sand and boldly keep going.
Also be sure to read his related articles:
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Tags: · ais, boating, collision_avoidance, Communication, puget_sound, seattle, shipping, Ships, vessel_tracking
After one long day of a full-press search for the tall ship Alvei, New Zealand Coast Guard’s P-3 aircraft crew was able to find the overdue ship. The reason for worry? Expected radio check-ins never happened. News.au tells us;
Julia Lang from Maritime New Zealand said authorities would meet The Alvei’s crew when they arrived in Opua, in New Zealand in 8-10 days time.
They would be asked why the ship did not respond to the radio broadcasts, and why the delay was not reported to authorities.
“Relatives have been concerned … had the vessel been making VHF contact we would have been able to allay anyone’s fear relatively quickly,” Lang said.
“All maritime authorities internationally see skippers as responsible for their vessels. Part of that is being responsible by keeping regular and scheduled communications via maritime radio or other means.
“The fact is it has been extremely difficult. It created a lot of anxiety.”
It is unclear whether the crew may be asked to fund the cost of the search. Continue Reading…
Read gCaptain’s full coverage: P
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Tags: · coast_guard, Communication, maritime_authorities, maritime_radio, new_zealand, radio_broadcasts, radio_check, tall_ship, vhf
Fairplay brings us the most ridiculous item of the day;
Vessels transiting US harbours could come under tight navigational controls in the wake of the Cosco Busan bridge strike and resulting spill in San Francisco Bay. Sources close to the investigation tell Fairplay that federal officials may suggest that vessels transiting US channels may be compelled to follow navigational instructions issued by the US Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service. In the case of the Cosco Busan accident, it has been alleged that VTS duty officers tried to warn the vessel off its impact course with the Bay Bridge, but their advice is just that and not mandatory for vessel operators. Fairplay asked USCG Commandant Thad Allen about the suggestion and he said that, if required to, the Coast Guard is up to the challenge of positively controlling commercial vessel traffic. But he noted that most major US harbors presently don’t have VTS systems and that such a change would require a major financial commitment “and a departure from the current culture regarding vessel navigation responsibility”. The suggested system would be along the lines of air traffic control procedures which Allen says were developed centuries after the traditional rules for vessel captains and pilots.
The problem with maritime incidents is the fix rarely address the true cause and often creates problems that contribute to future incidents. As an example here’s an email from a gCaptain reader who wishes to remain anonymous;
“The new ISPS reporting requirements are sinking us in paperwork. Just yesterday I was on bridge watch in moderate traffic, typing a report out on my laptop. For 15 minutes our captain observed my action from the chart room then came out and said:
5 Years ago if I saw you typing a report on that F$@@’n laptop I would have fired you on the spot. Today, with all these ISM/ISPS requirements, if I come up here and find your not on your laptop typing out reports, I’ll fire you on the spot!
I was paying attention to the traffic but we both knew it didn’t have my full attention… and these reports were suppose to be making us safer!! I don’t feel safer and I don’t feel the paperwork will keep terrorists away from my ship”
Unsafe indeed.
Vessel Traffic in US ports is exceptionally well run and experienced in vessel safety and operations. They do not make the proposal ridiculous, Admiral Allen does. Why? Current technology is simply not capable of delivering real time tracking. Also, final say remains the responsibility of a ship’s captain because he is the one who knows the ship’s capabilities, it’s crew and he is stationed on the bridge. He is also the last one to abandon if the ship finds danger… and he knows it.
If the Coast Guard wants final say then they need to be aboard the vessel and if that happens they will be hard pressed to fill the position with anyone more qualified than the competent and experienced San Francisco Pilots.
UPDATE:
Bob Couttie of Maritime Accident Casebook comments on this post;
VTS-assisted accidents, by action or inaction, aren’t rare, or at least not rare enough. John Clandillon-Baker, editor of The Pilot, journal of the UK Maritime Pilots Association sent us an email reminder about the Sea Express/Alaska Rainbow collision in February, 2007. VTS issues also featured in the grounding of the P&O Nedlloyd Magellan in 2001, and the source or worst oil spill so far in Singapore waters, the collision between the Evoikos and Orapin Global in October 1997. One can arguably include the Exxon Valdez.
USCG Commandant Thad Allen’s assurance to Fairplay that his command is up to the challenge has a Rice-Davies sort of quality to it, he would say that, wouldn’t he.
MAC’s own informal think-tank of veteran master mariners, who aren’t tanked up when they think, finds the proposal less objectionable, the authority of the master will remain in force much as it does now, in their view.
This is only a clip of Bob’s article so be sure to read his full post: “Cosco Busan – Who Needs Pilots?“
__________________________________________________
John Konrad is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage. Since graduating from SUNY Maritime College he has sailed 4 of the world’s oceans and reports from his ship via satellite.
Related Posts:
Tags: · coast_guard, commercial_vessel_traffic, Communication, cosco_busan, fairplay, ism, ISPS Code, Marine Incidents, moderate_traffic, navigational_controls, navigational_instructions, oil_spill, ridiculous, San Francisco, USCG, uscg_commandant, vessel_navigation, vessel_operators, vessel_traffic_service, vts_systems
Panbo, the marine electronics blog, brings us today’s gCaptain Holiday Gift Suggestion. The unit is the SPOT Satellite Messenger & Emergency Locater
and it’s fairly amazing.
First a note. This is not a substitute for the most important safety item aboard ship an EPIRB. If you are looking for the best personal emergency solution we recommend the ACR – ResQFix 406 GPS Personal Locater Beacon (PLB) . (EPIRBS are know as PLB’s when used for personal use and ELT’s in aviation).
So what can the SPOT do? Basically it is a unit that updates your position on a google map which your friends can log into and track your position. It also has extensive emergency locating features at a fraction of the price of a PLB or EPIRB. Panbo tells us;
The just announced Spot is a waterproof Globalstar messenger and GPS combo that will purportedly let you alert the authorities (at least the U.S. ones) [we know it uses GEOS SAR but doesn't have global coverage) with your position, or ask for help from your friends or just notify them of where you are, or build an online track of your travels. It will be available in November for $149 with an annual service contract ranging from $99 upwards depending on what features you want to use. There’s not much detail on the Spot site yet, except for some pretty extreme fear marketing, but I’d guess that this product will get some real attention, even from some boaters. And I’m glad that, unlike TracMe, Spot is not confusing the market place by using the term Personal Locator Beacon (PLB).
For $149 at Amazon this seems like a bargain to give your family some extra peace of mind and let your kids track your position at sea from your home computer (check with your ISPS DP for your company's policy). [Continue Reading →]
Related Posts:
Tags: · amazon, Communication, elt, emergency, epirb, Gear, gifts, Globalstar, holiday_gift_suggestion, inmarsat, marine_electronics, plb, spot, survival, Uncategorized
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