HAVING ADOPTED amendments to the International Convention
for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974,
concerning the safety of ro-ro passenger ships,
BEING OF THE OPINION that the safety of navigation would
be considerably improved if all ships above a certain size were fitted
with ship identification transponder/transceiver systems capable of
automatically providing shore stations and other ships with information
as to the ship's identity, type, position, course, speed, navigational
status and other safety-related information and to receive such information
from similarly-fitted ships,
NOTING that the Maritime Safety Committee of the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) is conducting a complete review of SOLAS chapter V (Safety of navigation), and is preparing
carriage requirements and performance standards for shipborne automatic
ship identification transponders,
NOTING FURTHER that automatic ship identification transponder/transceiver
systems require the allocation of suitable radio frequencies and development
of technical standards for the equipment concerned by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU),
1. INVITES the Maritime Safety Committee of IMO
to:
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(a) develop, as a matter of urgency, operational
requirements and performance standards for automatic ship identification
transponder/transceiver systems; and
-
(b) consider adopting amendments to the SOLAS Convention concerning carriage requirements
for such automatic ship transponder/transceiver systems;
2. INVITES IMO, in co-operation with ITU, as a
matter of priority, to:
-
(a) develop technical standards for automatic
ship identification transponder/transceiver systems; and
-
(b) ensure the allocation of suitable radio frequencies
for automatic ship identification transponder/transceiver systems.