Inmarsat: IMO approval to deliver most significant advance in maritime safety in a generation

The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has formally approved Inmarsat’s ‘Fleet Safety’ solution as a new service to support the Global Maritime Distress & Safety System (GMDSS).

Ship owners 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.  Tens of thousands of vessels are already equipped with FleetBroadband or Fleet One, making the adoption of Fleet Safety simple and hassle free.

Ship owners and operators currently deploying FleetBroadband or Fleet One will be able to access GMDSS approved safety services, as well as a host of new innovative safety features only available via the Inmarsat Fleet Safety system, by the addition of a smallMaritime Safety Terminal (MST).  Inmarsat 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 1Mbps.

‘Fleet Safety’ builds on Inmarsat’s 40-years of maritime safety heritage, which has helped save the lives of thousands of seafarers.  160,000 vessels worldwide already use the Inmarsat-C stand-alone safety service, which is provided at no charge by Inmarsat.

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.