1
Position of the IMO SMCP
in Maritime Practice
The IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) has
been compiled:
- to assist in the greater safety of navigation and of the conduct
of the ship,
- to standardize the language used in communication for navigation
at sea, in port approaches, waterways and harbours, and on board vessels
with multilingual crews, and
- to assist maritime training institutions in meeting the objectives
mentioned above.
These phrases are not intended to supplant or contradict
the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972
or special local rules or recommendations made by IMO concerning ships'
routeing, neither are they intended to supersede the International
Code of Signals, and their use in ship’s external communications
has to be in strict compliance with the relevant radiotelephone procedures
as set out in the ITU Radio regulations. Furthermore, the IMO SMCP,
as a collection of individual phrases, should not be regarded as any
kind of technical manual providing operational instructions.
The IMO SMCP meets the requirements of the STCW Convention,
1978, as revised, and of the SOLAS Convention, 1974, as revised, regarding
verbal communications; moreover, the phrases cover the relevant communication
safety aspects laid down in these Conventions.
Use of the IMO SMCP should be made as often as possible
in preference to other wording of similar meaning; as a minimum requirement,
users should adhere as closely as possible to them in relevant situations.
In this way they are intended to become an acceptable safety language,
using English for the verbal interchange of intelligence among individuals
of all maritime nations on the many and varied occasions when precise
meanings and translations are in doubt, as is increasingly evident
under modern conditions at sea.
The accompanying CD/Cassette is designed to familiarize
users with the pronunciation of the phrases.
2
Organization of the IMO SMCP
The IMO SMCP is divided in to External Communication Phrases
and On-board Communication Phrases as far as its application is concerned,
and into Part A and Part B as to its status within the framework of
STCW 1978 as revised.
Part A covers phrases applicable in external communications,
and may be regarded as the replacement of the Standard Marine Navigational
Vocabulary 1985, which is required to be used and understood under
the STCW Code, 1995, Table A-II/I. This part is enriched by essential
phrases concerning ship handling and safety of navigation to be used
in on-board communications, particularly when the Pilot is on the
bridge, as required by regulation 14(4),
Chapter V, SOLAS 1974, as revised.
Part B calls attention to other on-board standard safety-related
phrases which, supplementary to Part A may also be regarded as useful
for maritime English instruction.
3
Position of the IMO SMCP
in Maritime Education and Training
The IMO SMCP is not intended to provide a comprehensive
maritime English syllabus, which is expected to cover a far wider
range of language skills to be achieved in the fields of vocabulary,
grammar, discourse abilities, etc., than the IMO SMCP could ever manage.
However, Part A in particular should be an indispensable part of any
curriculum which is designed to meet the corresponding requirements
of the STCW Convention 1978 as revised. In addition, Part B offers
a rich choice of situations covered by phrases well suited to meet
the communication requirements of the STCW Convention 1978 as revised,
which mariners are implicitly expected to satisfy.
The IMO SMCP should be taught and learned selectively according
to users’ specific needs, rather than in its entirety. The respective
instruction should be based on practice in the maritime environment,
and should be implemented through appropriate modern language teaching
methods.
4
Basic Communicative Features
The IMO SMCP builds on a basic knowledge of the English
language. It was drafted intentionally in a simplified version of
maritime English in order to reduce grammatical, lexical and idiomatic
varieties to a tolerable minimum, using standardized structures for
the sake of its function aspects, i.e. reducing misunderstanding in
safety-related verbal communications, thereby endeavouring to reflect
present maritime English language usage on board vessels and in ship-to-shore/ship-to-ship
communications.
This means that in phrases offered for use in emergency
and other situations developing under considerable pressure of time
or psychological stress, as well as in navigational warnings, a block
language is applied which uses sparingly or omits the function words the, a/an, is/are, as done in seafaring practice. Users, however,
may be flexible in this respect.
Further communicative features may be summarized as follows:
- avoiding synonyms
- avoiding contracted forms
- providing fully worded answers to "yes/no"-questions and basic
alternative answers to sentence questions
- providing one phrase for one event,
and
- structuring the corresponding phrases according to the principle: identical invariable plus variable.
5
Typographical Conventions
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brackets indicate that the part of the message enclosed within the
brackets may be added where relevant;
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oblique strokes indicate that the items on either side of the stroke
are alternatives;
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dots indicate that the relevant information is to be filled in where
the dots occur;
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(italic letters) indicate the kind of information requested;
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tildes precede possible words or phrases which can be used after/in
association with the given standard phrase.
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