Imo standard marine communication phrases

INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION

E
IMO A 22/Res.918 25 January 2002 Original: ENGLISH Resolution A.918(22)

ASSEMBLY 22nd session Agenda item 9

Adopted on 29 November 2001 (Agenda item 9)

IMO STANDARD MARINE COMMUNICATION PHRASES

THE ASSEMBLY, RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in relationto regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety, RECALLING ALSO resolution A.380(X) by which it adopted the Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary, RECALLING FURTHER the provisions of regulation V/14.4 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, requiring that on all ships to which chapter I thereof applies, English shall be used on the bridge as the workinglanguage for bridge-to-bridge and bridge-to-shore safety communications as well as for communications on board between the pilot and bridge watchkeeping personnel unless those directly involved in the communications speak a common language other than English, RECOGNIZING that the standardization of language and terminology used in such communications would assist the safe operation of ships andcontribute to greater safety of navigation, RECOGNIZING ALSO the wide use of the English language for international navigational communications and the need to assist maritime training institutions to meet the objectives of safe operations of ships and enhanced navigational safety through, inter alia, the standardization of language and terminology used, HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendations of theMaritime Safety Committee at its sixty-eighth and seventy- fourth sessions, 1. ADOPTS the IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases set out in Annex 1 to the present resolution;

For reasons of economy, this document is printed in a limited number. Delegates are kindly asked to bring their copies to meetin gs and not to request additional copies.

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2. AUTHORIZES the Maritime Safety Committee to keep the IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases under review and to amend them when necessary in accordance with the procedure set out in Annex 2 to the present resolution; 3. RECOMMENDS Governments to give the IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases a wide circulation to all prospective users and all maritime education authorities, inorder to support compliance with the standards of competence as required by table A-II/1 of the STCW Code; 4. REVOKES resolution A.380(X).

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A 22/Res.918

ANNEX 1

FOREWORD As navigational and safety communications from ship to shore and vice versa, from ship to ship, and on board ship must be precise, simple and unambiguous so as to avo id confusion anderror, there is a need to standardize the language used. This is of particular importance in the light of the increasing number of internationally trading vessels with crews speaking many different languages, since problems of communication may cause misunderstandings leading to dangers to the vessel, the people on board and the environment. In 1973, the Maritime Safety Committee agreed, at itstwenty-seventh session that where language difficulties arise a common language should be used for navigational purposes, and that language should be English. In consequence the Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary (SMNV) was developed, adopted in 1977 and amended in 1985. In 1992, the Maritime Safety Committee, at its sixtieth session, instructed the Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation todevelop a more comprehensive standardized safety language than SMNV 1985, taking into account the changing conditions in modern seafaring and covering all major safety-related verbal communications. At its sixty-eighth session in 1997, the Maritime Safety Committee adopted the Draft IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) developed by the Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation. The draft IMO...