Marine Advisory: 15/2026 - Maritime Mobile Satellite Service – Reception of MSI, Coastal Warning Areas

Subject: Maritime Mobile Satellite Service – Reception of MSI, Coastal Warning Areas

To: Shipowners/Operators/Masters:

Purpose

The purpose of this Marine Advisory is to inform shipowners, operators and Masters of the potential issue of receiving Maritime Safety Information (MSI) within Coastal Warning Areas and highlight methods to ensure that all ships are able to receive MSI and remain compliant with SOLAS requirements.

Background

Recently ships have entered Coastal Warning Areas and have not had equipment correctly configured to be able to receive MSI inside the Coastal Warning Area. Also, crew were unable to subsequently configure the equipment to correct the situation, and administrative penalties were applied by Port State Compliance Officers.

Under SOLAS Chapter 4, Regulation 7.1.4 “Every ship shall be provided with a receiver or receives capable of receiving MSI and search and rescue related information throughout the entire voyage in which the ships is engaged”. In certain areas coastal states have chosen to broadcast coastal information using satellite broadcasting via the Enhance Group Call (EGC) service, which is part of the Recognized Mobile Satellite Services (RMSSs). This is done instead of using shore-based broadcasting via NAXTEX and the areas are known as Coastal Warning Areas.

Therefore, ships must use their approved RMSS equipment within the coastal waters that use Coastal Warning Areas for broadcasting MSI.

Requirements to configure RMSS Equipment for the reception of MSI inside Coastal Warning Areas

Certain types of RMSS equipment require specific configuration to be able to successfully receive MSI within Coastal Warning Areas. From discussions with the RMSS providers we are aware that:

• Certain models of Inmarsat-C require specific parameters to be entered into the configuration of the equipment to enable MSI reception inside a Coastal Warning Area.

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• Iridium GMDSS equipment does not require specific configuration and all MSI is received by the equipment automatically.

If a ship has Inmarsat-C equipment and they do not know if their equipment requires configuration then they should contact their equipment manufacturer to check any requirements. If their equipment does require configuration then they should ensure their crew is trained to effectively configure their equipment, and procedures are in place to ensure that the equipment is configured before entering an area where Coastal Warning Areas are used. The details of Coastal Warning Areas are found in the Admiralty List of radio Signals Volume 5.

Questions regarding this guidance should be referred to RegsandStandards@liscr.com and, satelliteservices@liscr.com or telephone +1-703-790-3434.

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