Certified radio surveys contribute to safety at sea

- How Raytheon Anschütz ensures emergency ship communications -

For more than 30 years, the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) has kept vessels on the high seas safe — and Raytheon Anschütz is hard at work to keep it that way far into the future.

The GMDSS includes various radio equipment and systems that must be operated by qualified and certified professionals and that must work reliably at all times. That’s where Raytheon Anschütz, a business of Raytheon Technologies, comes in, conducting annual surveys and audits of radio equipment, determining whether the requirements on board are met and ensuring that all equipment works properly.

“It is important to ensure GMDSS, radio equipment and lifesaving equipment are properly working in times of distress, so that no single soul will be lost at sea”, said BT Lim, service manager at Raytheon Anschütz Singapore Pte Ltd.

As one of the world’s busiest maritime hubs, more than 130,000 ships dock in the Singapore port every year. Shipowners can use their berthing times to carry out the necessary check on their equipment. Raytheon Anschütz Singapore specializes in conducting these radio surveys in accordance with Chapter IV of the Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) regulations and also with the specified classification society checklist.

The surveys include formal procedures such as verification and checks of important documents, reports and certifications, and also comprise visual inspections of lifesaving equipment regarding their physical conditions and expiration dates. Most important are the measurements taken from the test equipment to check whether the radio transmission and reception are within the specified tolerance, and tests to see if the radio equipment still works when there is a blackout aboard the ship.

“With all the tests conducted, a survey report is prepared and a debrief is carried out, including recommendations or follow-up actions, if needed,” said Lim. “Our radio surveyors follow high-quality standards when inspecting the equipment and provide professional advice to operators because we know how important reliable radio equipment and trained operators are for safety at sea.”

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