Safe Seas
About 2000 lives were lost when the Titanic sank in her maiden voyage. The tragedy is till being written about. But then, that was in 1912. Recently, when another seafarer the Oceanos sank into the deep, all aboard were saved, despite the fact that the ship had lost her engines and was battling winds of about 80 miles per hour and 24-foot high waves.
Both the ships were built by reputed companies at well-equipped yards. Both, obviously, were not expected to sink either. But the similarities end there what was not common were the communication systems. While the Titanic was dependent on wireless radio alone to relay its SOS, the Oceanos alerted the nearest rescue coordination centre (RCC) via satellite, and the alarm raised triggered off the rescue operations.
Thus, while rescue workers took about 24 hours to reach the Titanic, the Oceanos saviours which included all the nearby vessels (about 10), four strike crafts, 16 aircraft and 31 divers arrived within a few hours. Time, certainly, was in Oceanos' favour.
Maritime communications come a long way. Today, almost 80 per cent of the 70,000 merchant vessels that ply the high seas are just a button away from help. A new satellite communications system the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) ensures their safety.
"I would in fact say that nowadays, we are never alone at sea,'' said T K Jain, a member of the Maritime Association of India. "The vessels are today monitored all the time and are in constant touch with land authorities, not just for emergencies but for business needs as well."
The system which is provided by the International Maritime Satellite Organisation (Inmarsat) under the aegis of the International Maritime Organisation, (IMO) apart from ensuring safety at sea also helps in ship management, facilitating business and ship operations as well. The Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. is a signatory to the Inmarsat and provides a gateway via its land earth station near Pune.
Billed as the most significant breakthrough in maritime safety since the advent of radio, the system requires a high-end Pentium for smooth functioning in case a single module is bought. Priced around Rs 2 lakhs, new versions are added to the existing system almost every six months.
Among Indian ship owners, the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has equipped a number of its vessels with the GMDSS. Essar Shipping, which owns about 50 vessels, has installed the system in about 70 per cent of its ships, while the Great Eastern Shipping the largest shipping company in the private sector has equipped 50 per cent of its ships with the GMDSS.
"We plan to have all our ships equipped with the GMDSS by the end of next year," said a spokesman of Essar shipping. "The main reason being that this system can take in a lot of our customised software which help in the day-to-day working of our company." And this is none to soon, as the IMO has made it mandatory for all vessels in the global fleet to be equipped with GMDSS before February 1, 1999.
The GMDSS gives a crystal clear voice irrespective of the weather conditions and is capable of rapid data transmission facility. This is in direct contrast to wireless radio, which often did not transmit clearly in windy weather, and whose effectiveness depended upon the radio officer on duty sending the distress message.
What is significant about the GMDSS is that a dedicated radio officer is not required for communications. Most of the communications are user-friendly and can be performed by almost any marine officer.
For example, distress alerting from ship-to-shore is initiated at a press of a dedicated button or a special key sequence entered previously from the ship's earth station.
To ensure that the message is transmitted at once, the system has a facility by which at at least one channel is pre-empted in case all happen to be engaged at that time.
Alternatively, the distress-alert is transmitted via a special emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB).
The EPIRB can be initiated either manually or automatically by simply throwing it into the sea. Once the message is received by the shore-based RCC it is further relayed to other ships in the proximity of the stricken vessel and nearby shore-side authorities.
Goods cargo and bunker bargains are aspects that are often decided en-route. Previously an unreliable communications systems often resulted in the owner missing out on these. Today, by merely pressing a few keys the owner can know the status of the vessel, the bunker position, spare requisition, cargo details and even the number of beer cans in the ship's refrigerator. Thus transactions are made on land and the ship is directed mid-way (if need be) to unload a certain cargo and buy others at a particular quoted price.
"We even submit tenders for contracts personally by asking the captain to dock at a port and submit it at a particular office," says Jain.
Loading and unloading of containers have also become quicker in ports and customs clearance is obtained even before the ship arrives as data related to cargo can be processed at a customs or port office.
Repairs, signing off crew or sickness tensions have also been considerably reduced due to being in constant touch with the land staff. "The work on board has been vastly reduced," says a tanker master of a foreign vessel. "Previously administrative chores used to take up a lot of my time. Now even video pictures of faulty engines can be sent to shore-based engineers or even the manufacturers for advice."
One of the unique services provided by this system is known as the enhanced group call (EGC). This enables the shore office to send a common message to selective vessels defined either geographically or through the ship's codes. This means that each ship need not be called up individually.
Two other facilities provided include the Fleetnet and the Safetynet. The fleetnet is a `commercial' feature and is used by a group of callers to communicate with the vessel a sort of a third party value-added service. This way, revised price lists of their products and weather information are sent to a group of ships in a particular area. The Safetynet is a sort of a back-up, providing maritime safety information to the crew.
Kanchana Unlike wireless systems, a dedicated radio officer is not required if you are using the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System. Communications don t call for any special training.