Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System

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Coast station Norddeich Radio from 1957 in the Museum for Communication Hamburg . From 1957 to 1981, the shortwave tactile radio workstation was used to exchange telegrams with ships on all oceans.
Coverage and recorded shipping

The amver ( AMVER system ), formerly known as Atlantic Merchant Vessel Emergency Reporting System , discloses a from the United States Coast Guard entertaining Schiffsmeldedienst .

details

The purpose of the voluntary and free ship reporting system is a computer-aided coordination of relief operations within the framework of the global search and rescue service (Search and Rescue / SAR). The position reports of the participating ships enable the AMVER employees to inform the closest and most suitable ships about emergencies at sea and to coordinate their help in the case of more extensive operations.

Participation in AMVER does not oblige the participating ships to take more extensive measures than those stipulated in international maritime law , for example in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea or the International Convention of 1979 on Search and Rescue Services at Sea .

Amver began work on July 18, 1958 and was initially limited to ships in the North Atlantic with a measurement over 1000 gross tons . The headquarters of the organization was originally New York City , later AMVER moved to Washington, DC , today it operates from Martinsburg , West Virginia .

Today around 22,000 ships participate in this program, and the number is rising. The information is made available to the local MRCC - Maritime Emergency Control Centers, which have information about which ships are eligible for assistance. These can then be specifically alerted by them. On average, 14,000 messages from 4,000 different ships are processed every day. Since 2000, the system is said to have been involved in the rescue of 2,800 people.

AMVER messages are now sent by email to the email address amvermsg@amver.org or amvermsg@amver.com. This system cannot be used for emergency calls. The email must be created in a precisely defined format. Each line ends with a double "/" and begins with the line type. Information within a line is separated with a simple "/". There are 4 report types and 15 line types. The 4 report types are Sailing Plan (SP), Position Report (PR), Deviation Report (DR) and Final Arrival Report (FR). An email message can contain several reports. Originally there was also a Departure Report (DR), but this was integrated into the Sailing Plan (SP).

Example of a message:

Line of the message annotation
AMVER / SP // Each message must begin with AMVER and the message type
A / VESSEL NAME / CALL SIGN // A line Ship name and call sign
B / 240620Z MAR // B Line time of the message
E / 045 // E line The course of the ship in degrees
F / 198 // F line speed in knots / 10
G / TOKYO / 3536N / 13946E // G line departure port with position
I / LOS ANGELES / 3343N / 11817W / 031300Z APR // I line Next port with position and estimated time of arrival (ETA Estimated Time of Arrival)
L / RL / 190 / 3448N / 13954E / NOJIMASAKI / 240850Z // L line route information
L / GC / 210 / 4200N / 18000E / 280400Z // L line route information
L / RL / 200 / 4200N / 16000W / 300030Z // L line route information
L / GC / 188 / 3422N / 12047W / 030500Z APR // L line route information
L / RL / 161 // L line route information
M // INMARSAT 1501562 // M line The best way to contact a ship Here Inmarsat phone number
V / NURSE // V line Medical staff on board, here nurses
X / NEXT REPORT 250800Z // X line Free information can be entered here
Y / JASREP / MAREP // Y line Here you can specify to which other ship location systems the message should be forwarded.
Z / EOR // Z line. A message must end with this line

In the past, AMVER messages could also be sent via coast stations, Coast Guard radio stations and Imarasat satellites. But most of these services have been discontinued. Radio telex services were often used on a SITOR basis on frequencies in the limit and shortwave range. Since most commercial ships now have satellite-based internet, the telex traffic was little used and the Coast Guard discontinued these services in 2008 and 2012 respectively . Most of the private coastal radio stations also discontinued the SITOR service due to a lack of demand. In addition, there was the possibility of sending AMVER reports directly via Inmarsat , more precisely via the provider COMSAT . A compression program developed by NOAA was used. The messages could be sent directly via an INMARSAT-C terminal and the transmission was free of charge for the ship owner. For this, a standard PC had to be connected to the terminal. Shortwave will continue to be used to transmit AMVER reports, via e-mail shortwave providers. However, this is normal Internet e-mail traffic, mostly based on PACTOR .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ United States Coast Guard History of the Amver System
  2. ↑ United States Coast Guard Amver Ship Reporting System Manual
  3. ↑ High Frequency RADIO TELEX (SITOR) AMVER and OBS service discontinued from Coast Guard CAMSLANT and COMMSTA Kodiak
  4. ↑ US Coast Guard to disconitnue On Call SITOR

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