The meeting of the sub-committee on Navigation, Communications, Search and Rescue which had been planned for 10 to 19 February 2021was finally conducted online and with a limited agenda. It was chaired by Ringo Lakeman of the Netherlands. This meeting competed his 5 year term as chairman so the vice chair Nigel Clifford of New Zealand will now take over with Alexander Schwarz of Germany as the new vice chair.

The major task of the meeting was to complete the revision of Chapter IV (Radiocommunications) of the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and associated documents, a task that had been ongoing since 2009. A special meeting of the Communications Working Group had been held in the previous two weeks which had prepared complete texts and which in the event were agreed without comment. The texts now go the Maritime Safety Committee at the meeting MSC 104 in October, the next meeting MSC 103 in May being too close to allow the documents to be prepared. The revised Chapter does not greatly change any requirements with the exception of permitting satellite systems in addition to Inmarsat.

A correspondence group reported on Safety measures for non-SOLAS ships operating in polar waters. It was not possible to complete the work at the meeting so the correspondence group will be re-established. It is now intended that the measures will apply to fishing vessels of 24 metres and above, pleasure yachts of 300 gross tonnage and above not engaged in trade, and cargo ships of 300 gross tonnage and above but below 500 gross tonnage.

A further correspondence group reported on Revision of the Guidelines on places of refuge for ships in need of assistance. Again, it was not possible to complete the work at the meeting and again the correspondence group will be re-established.

A new Iridium SafetyCast service manual had been prepared as a replacement for the existing interim manual. However, it was considered that this was incomplete and should be looked at again at the next meeting. Work continues on the arrangements for coordinators to broadcast navigation and weather information to ships fitted with Iridium terminals and the modifications to the Master Plan module of the web based Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) to include information on the implementation of the Iridium SafetyCast service.

The Japanese satellite navigation system QZSS was agreed to be recognised as part of the worldwide radionavigation system despite concerns from Korea and China. A correspondence group reported on the development of generic performance standards for shipborne satellite navigation system receiver equipment but there was insufficient time to progress this, which will now be referred back to the correspondence group.

Amendments to the performance standards for Voyage Data Recorders were agreed to refer to the new Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon requirements for use with the float free capsule.

A liaison statement was prepared to send to the International Telecommunications Union concerning the problem of interference from mobile phone systems to Inmarsat terminals on ships. A further issue was reported of interference from mobile phone systems to the Inmarsat land earth station at Burum in the Netherlands. If this cannot be managed then there may be a need for Inmarsat to relocate from Burum.

There were no ship routeing proposals to discuss due to the limited agenda which will result in a back log for the next meeting. To help the work a special meeting of the ship routeing group will be held in advance of the next meeting.

No date was set for the next meeting due to continuing uncertainties in planning around the Covid pandemic. The IMO Council will meet in July to discuss the meeting programme. It is hoped that there will be an eight-day meeting in 2022. It is hoped that new agenda items will be included to revise the electronic chart performance standards to include a transition to the new S-101 chart data format, amendments to the Voyage Data Recorder performance standards to include recording of telephone conversations and a revision of the criteria for the provision of mobile satellite communication services (resolution A.1001(25)).

A meeting of the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 103) is planned for 5 to 14 May 2021 and a further meeting (MSC 104) for 4 to 8 October 2021. A meeting of the ICAO/IMO Joint Working Group is planned for 6 to 10 September 2021. A meeting of the Joint IMO/ITU Experts Group is planned for 1 to 5 November 2021.

by Kim Fisher

The meeting of the sub-committee on Navigation, Communications, Search and Rescue was chaired by Ringo Lakeman of the Netherlands. This meeting competed his 5 year term as chairman but under exceptional arrangements it was agreed to extend his term for a further year in order to provide continuity for the proposed revision of SOLAS/IV. The meeting was also the second of the exceptional 8 day meetings agreed due to the extensive workload of this sub-committee, but it was further agreed to allow an 8 day meeting again next year.

The next meeting will need to complete the revision of Chapter IV (Radiocommunications) of the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and associated documents if the intended entering into force of 2024 is to be achieved. This work had been ongoing since 2009. Considerable progress was achieved and it seems hopeful that completed texts will be ready for next year. The new SOLAS facilitates the use of the Iridium satellite system as an alternative to Inmarsat but issues of interoperability between the systems and monitoring of and charging for Maritime Safety Information (MSI) broadcasts require more work.

Revised guidelines for the shore-based maintenance and annual testing of satellite emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) were agreed and also a revised version of the SafetyNET manual. It was announced that Peter Doherty who has chaired the international SafetyNET coordinating panel for the past 17 years was standing down.

The developing ICAO work for a Global aeronautical distress and safety system (GADDS) led to a new circular on interim guidance for search and rescue services regarding implementation of autonomous distress tracking of aircraft in flight. pending revision of the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual.

The Indian regional navigation satellite system (IRNSS) was agreed to be recognised as part of the worldwide radionavigation system and performance standards were agreed for the Japanese regional satellite system (QZSS). A proposal for generic performance standards for satellite navigation systems was carried forward to the next meeting.

Revised guidelines for vessel traffic services (VTS) were agreed to bring them up to date. Work on guidelines for maritime services descriptions remains ongoing.

Safety measures for non-SOLAS ships operating in Polar waters was discussed and will be progressed further in a correspondence group to be coordinated by New Zealand. Revisions of guidelines on places of refuge for ships will be progressed further in a correspondence group to be coordinated by the UK.

A detail anomaly in the revised IMO Circular on navigation-related symbols, terms and abbreviations (SN.1/Circ.243) agreed at the last meeting led to a corrigendum removing the symbol for MSI.

Proposals to modify ECDIS requirements to accept new S-100 charts will be discussed again at the next meeting.

Amendments were agreed to the traffic separation schemes in Norway, Slupska Bank Poland and Off Ushant France together with amendments to the two way route in the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait Australia.

The next meeting of NCSR is planned for 10 to 19 February 2021. A meeting of the Maritime Safety Committee is planned for 13 to 22 May 2020. A meeting of the Joint IMO/ITU Experts Group is planned for 6 to 10 July 2020. A meeting of the ICAO/IMO Joint Working Group is planned for 12 to 16 October 2020 in London.

Note of meeting of the International Maritime Organization Maritime Safety Committee IMO MSC100 – 3 to 7 December 2018

by Kim Fisher

This was a 5 day meeting of the Maritime Safety Committee under the chairmanship of Mr Bradley Groves (Australia) because the previous meeting this year had been an 8 day meeting in June. Since this was the 100th meeting, and also coinciding with the 70th anniversary of IMO, the opportunity was taken to hold some special events. A seminar was held on the first afternoon and Her Royal Highness Princes Anne was invited to address the meeting on the Wednesday,

The seminar dealt with the technology progression of maritime autonomous ships, the human element and smart marine ecosystems. Some impressive film was shown of a ferry making a totally autonomous voyage, berth to berth. These special events together with a long report from Ukraine on the issue of the capture by Russian forces of Ukrainian naval vessels somewhat restricted the time available for the meeting which consequently became rather rushed.

The substantive issue at the meeting concerned a regulatory scoping exercise for the use of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). The previous meeting had set up a correspondence group to move the work forward and a report was available which showed just how complex the issue was. A Working Group at the meeting produced a simplified report and the work will now continue as a web based exercise for the next meeting. Since there is only one MSC meeting next year, a special 5 day intersessional meeting has been arranged for later in the year.

Another Working Group discussed the issue of safety measures for non-SOLAS ships operating in polar waters as an extension to the Polar Code but was not able to make much progress.

Much of the rest of the meeting concerned ship construction standards. New work items were agreed for the use of emergency personal radio devices in multiple casualty situations and for a revision of ECDIS guidelines for good practice.

At the end of the meeting the retirement was announced of Jo Angelo of the USA.

The next meeting of MSC is scheduled to take place from 5 to 14 June 2019. The intersessional meeting on MASS is scheduled to take place from 2 to 6 September 2019. A meeting of the subcommittee on navigation, communication, search and rescue (NCSR) is scheduled for 14 to 25 January 2019.