International Mobile Satellite Organization News

Captain David J.F. Bruce, Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and Senior Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs, RMI Maritime Administrator passed away on Friday, 29 September 2023. He was a loving husband to Alison for 53 years, father to Gwendoline, and grandfather to Alison and Alexander. Captain Bruce had a storied career and connection with the sea, first going to work at sea in 1957 after his studies at Melville College in Edinburgh…

OceanGate Expeditions has announced Inmarsat as the satellite service provider for the 2022 Titanic Survey Expedition. Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress high-speed satellite service will enable OceanGate Expeditions’ at-sea crew to instantly connect with scientific and operational resources anywhere in the world and to share important findings immediately while enhancing safety for the entire operation. Following the tragic loss of life in the sinking of Titanic, the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) was adopted.

Satellite communications provider Iridium Communications Inc. announced Tuesday that its Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) service officially went live on Friday, December 11, ending a monopoly held by rival Inmarsat and enhancing the integrity of global safety communications for seafarers globally.GMDSS is an internationally regulated service, governed by the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention. It provides life-saving assistance to seafarers in distress and has required equipment on board more than 60…

Iridium Communication signed on to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) service.On December 19, 2019 a Letter of Compliance was signed by the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), stating it has positively verified the operational and technical requirements as requested by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for Iridium to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) service. Iridium’s GMDSS service is bringing many capabilities to the maritime industry…

Iridium Communications announced the first seven companies it has authorized to provide its Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) services, planned for commercial introduction in the first half of 2020. The seven companies, Arion Communications, AST, Marlink, Marsat, NSSLGlobal, Satcom Global and Speedcast will be the first in the industry to provide truly global satellite GMDSS service to mariners, and the first to offer a new choice in satellite network and equipment.

Iridium Communications and partner Lars Thrane, has unveiled the Lars Thrane (LT) 3100S terminal designed to operate on the Iridium network for Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) vessel carriage requirements, with service targeted to launch in January 2020. This is the first terminal designed to provide truly global GMDSS services and is the first to be offered after the International Maritime Organization’s decision to recognize Iridium as just the second-ever satellite provider for this critical service.

A Historic Public Services Agreement has been signed as Iridium Continues Readying GMDSS Services for Launch. International Mobile Satellite Organization and Iridium continue progress towards Iridium’s January 2020 GMDSS Debut.Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) announced today the signing of their Public Services Agreement (PSA) with the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), which details the conditions for IMSO to act as regulator and maintain oversight…

The Plurinational State of Bolivia has become the 104th country to join the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), the inter-governmental body that oversees the provision of certain satellite-based maritime distress communication services. The IMSO Convention was adopted by International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1976 to establish and oversee satellite communications for shipping. Ms. Giovanna Lenny Vidal, Charge d'Affaires, met IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim and IMSO Director General Capt. Moin Ahmed to deposit the instrument of accession to the Convention. The Convention on the International Maritime Satellite Organization was adopted by IMO in 1976 to establish and oversee satellite communications for shipping.

Inmarsat (ISAT.L) has made available five Fleet One units to a pilot initiative that aims to bring change to the way ships connecting island communities in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu communicate. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) endorsed capacity-building pilot program is the result of cooperation between the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) and the Government of Vanuatu under the leadership of the Ambassador of Vanuatu to the IMO. Waterborne…

The role of Inmarsat as sole provider of satellite technology performing to Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) standards is set for advancement, after an IMO Sub Committee decided to greenlight consideration of both FleetBroadband and Fleet One for formal approval. To date, Inmarsat is the only company which has received approval from the International Maritime Organization to provide the GMDSS data and messaging communications on which mariners rely in the last resort, currently via Inmarsat C and Fleet 77 services.

Improving maritime security through surveillance monitoring and communication systems is on the agenda at an IMO seminar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (24-27 October). The event is supporting senior officials from ten east-Asian coastal states, with a wide range of responsibilities surrounding maritime surveillance monitoring and communications, coastal and port security to gain a deeper understanding of practical measures in these fields. Security challenges such as piracy and armed robbery, terrorist fighters, organized crime and mixed migration are being discussed, as well as the maritime communication and ship tracking and monitoring systems, such as AIS, LRIT, coastal radar, monitoring control and surveillance systems.

Fiji has acceded to six IMO treaties, including important conventions covering ballast water management and the control of harmful anti-fouling systems on ships. This brings the number of States party to the Ballast Water Management Convention to 49, with the aggregate remaining at 34.82 percent of the world's merchant fleet tonnage (based on global tonnage data as at end-February 2016). Jitoko Tikolevu, High Commissioner of Fiji to the United Kingdom, met IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim to deposit the instruments of accession.

International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) visited by International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General. The purpose of the visit was to discuss matters of mutual interest, in particular in the field of the future of maritime communications and how new technologies would support the sustainability of the maritime sector. IMSO Director General, Captain Esteban Pacha-Vicente, said: “IMSO is honoured to receive Mr Sekimizu on his first visit to IMSO in his capacity as the IMO Secretary-General, although he has in the past attended many IMSO meetings.

London, 16 May 2011 (Ministry of Development). In an event organized at the headquarters of the Embassy of Spain in London, Captain Esteban Pacha presented the programme of his candidacy to the Ambassadors, Permanent Representatives and Directors of the Maritime Administrations of most IMO Council Member States. The event was attended by the Spanish Director General of Merchant Marine Ms Isabel Durantez. The current Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos ends his term at the…

An international fund is urgently needed in order to establish search and rescue (SAR) services along the African coastlines, including the setting up of up to five regional Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres (MRCCs) and 26 Maritime Rescue Sub-Centres (MRSCs), the IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has agreed. MSC Chairman Mr. Tom Allan (United Kingdom) said the Committee would recommend to the IMO Council, which meets in June, that an international SAR Fund is established as soon as possible to support the establishment and continued maintenance of the MRCCs and MRSCs in Africa. The aim is to ensure that the basic communications…

IMO's efforts to assist in the wider United Nations campaign to bring relief and reconstruction to the regions devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami received a major boost today (10 January 2005) when the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) announced that, in co-operation with Inmarsat, it will make available up to 1000 digital land-mobile satellite communication terminals, free of charge, to the Secretary-General of IMO, for long term disaster response and relief purposes in the south Asia region. The terminals are to be supported with a programme of basic user training to enable them to be brought into use as quickly and effectively as possible, and IMSO also hopes to negotiate a package of subsidised airtime to ease the early use of the terminals.