IMO revises the NAVTEX Manual

The International Maritime Organization has issued the circular revising the NAVTEX Manual.

This circular has been issued on November 28th.

The Maritime Safety Committee, at its 106th session (2 to 11 November 2022), approved the revised NAVTEX Manual, set out in the annex, prepared by the Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR) at its ninth session (21 to 30 June 2022).

The Committee decided that the revised NAVTEX Manual would take effect on 1 January 2023.

Member States are invited to use the Manual, as appropriate, and to bring it to the attention of all parties concerned.

This circular supersedes MSC.1/Circ.1403/Rev.1.

Foreword

SOLAS regulation IV/12.2 states that "Every ship, while at sea, shall maintain a radio watch for broadcasts of maritime safety information on the appropriate frequency or frequencies on which such information is broadcast for the area in which the ship is navigating".

At the request of the IMO Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications (COM), the NAVTEX Manual was first produced in 1988. Three subsequent editions have been produced, with the fourth edition published in 2005 containing amendments endorsed by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) at its seventy-eighth session in May 2004 by MSC/Circ.1122.

At its seventh meeting in September 2005, the IHO Commission on the Promulgation of Radio Navigational  Warnings (CPRNW)* established a working group to review all World-Wide Navigational Warning Service (WWNWS) documentation.

*CPRNW was renamed the IHO WWNWS Sub-Committee (WWNWS) with effect from 1 January 2009.

The working group included representation from the WMO and firstly prepared revisions to resolutions A.705(17) on Promulgation of maritime safety information and A.706(17) on World-Wide Navigational Warning Service.

The proposed revisions of these resolutions were circulated to IHO Member States under IHB CL 104/2007, endorsed by the Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue (COMSAR) at its twelfth session in April 2008 and subsequently approved by MSC 85 in November/December 2008 by means of MSC.1/Circ.1287 and MSC.1/Circ.1288, respectively.

The IHO CPRNW Working Group then prepared the revised Joint IMO/IHO/WMO Manual on Maritime Safety Information incorporating the revised information from resolutions A.705(17), as amended, and A.706(17), as amended.  

The revised text was circulated to IHO Member States under cover of IHB CL 70/2008, endorsed by COMSAR 13 in January 2009 and subsequently approved by MSC 86 in May/June 2009 b means of  MSC.1/Circ.1310.

The working group subsequently prepared the third revision of the International SafetyNET Manual. The revised text of the International SafetyNET Manual was circulated to IHO Member States under cover of IHB CL 68/2009, endorsed by COMSAR 14 in March 2010 and approved by MSC 87 in May 2010 by MSC.1/Circ.1364.

Continuing with the holistic approach of reviewing all maritime safety information documents from the top down, the working group prepared the fifth revision of the NAVTEX Manual.

The revised text of the NAVTEX Manual was circulated to the IHO Member States under cover of IHB CL 74/2010, endorsed by COMSAR 15 in March 2011 and subsequently approved by MSC 89 in May 2011 by MSC.1/Circ.1403.

Following the review of all WWNWS documentation, an editorial review was conducted.

As part of this editorial review, MSC.1/Circ.1287/Rev.1 and MSC.1/Circ.1288/Rev.1 were approved by MSC 92 in June 2013, and MSC.1/Circ.1310/Rev.1 was approved by MSC 94 in November 2014.

Following the approval of these circulars, the IHO WWNWS Sub-Committee
Working Group reviewed the text of the NAVTEX Manual.

This sixth revision of the NAVTEX Manual was endorsed by IHO and WMO through the WWNWS Sub-Committee, endorsed by the Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR) at its third session in February/March 2016 and subsequently approved by MSC 97 in November 2016 by means of MSC.1/Circ.1403/Rev.1, becoming effective on 1 January 2018.

This Manual can be amended in accordance with the procedure stipulated in appendix 2.

1. General information

1.1 NAVTEX is an international automated direct-printing service for promulgation of maritime safety information (MSI), navigational and meteorological warnings, meteorological forecasts and other urgent safety-related messages to ships.

It was developed to provide a low-cost, simple and automated means of receiving MSI on board ships at sea in coastal waters. The information transmitted may be relevant to all sizes and types of vessels and the selective message-rejection feature ensures that mariners can receive MSI broadcasts which are tailored to their particular needs.

1.2 NAVTEX fulfils an integral role in the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) developed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and incorporated into the 1988 amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, as a requirement for ships to which the Convention applies.

1.3 This Manual describes the structure and operation of the NAVTEX service. It is intended primarily for use by national Administrations and others concerned with the preparation and broadcasting of MSI. It will also be of interest to seafarers, shipowners and others who need to receive such information in order to safely go about their business at sea.

It should be used in conjunction with the Joint IMO/IHO/WMO Manual on Maritime Safety Information (also published as the IHO/IMO World-Wide Navigational Warning Service Guidance Document, IHO Publication S-53).

2. NAVTEX service

2.1 Introduction

2.1.1 NAVTEX provides shipping with navigational and meteorological warnings, meteorological forecasts and other urgent safety-related messages (as listed in table 1, section 5) by automatic display or printout from a dedicated receiver. It is suitable for use in all sizes and types of ships.

Figure 1 illustrates the way the service is typically structured.

2.1.2 NAVTEX is a component of the IMO/IHO World-Wide Navigational Warning Service (WWNWS) and the IMO/WMO Worldwide Met-Ocean Information and Warning Service (WWMIWS) defined by resolutions A.706(17), as amended, and A.1051(27), as amended. It has also been included as an element of the GMDSS.

2.1.3 In the GMDSS, a NAVTEX receiving capability is part of the mandatory equipment which is required to be carried in certain vessels under the provisions of the SOLAS Convention.

2.1.4 Authority for coordinating the use of the frequencies 518 kHz, 490 kHz and 4209.5 kHz for NAVTEX services worldwide was delegated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to IMO at World Radiocommunication Conference, 1995 (WRC-95) through resolution 339. This was reaffirmed at WRC-97.

IMO has vested responsibility for the overall management and coordination of the global NAVTEX service in the IMO NAVTEX Coordinating Panel.

With respect to National NAVTEX broadcasts on 490 kHz and 4 209.5 kHz, the function of the IMO NAVTEX Coordinating Panel is limited to the allocation of transmission identification characters.2 It should be noted that the provisions of the NAVTEX Manual do not apply when planning a National NAVTEX service on other nationally assigned frequencies. The terms of reference for this Panel are set out in appendix 1.

2.1.5 Details of operational and planned NAVTEX services are published periodically in the various national lists of radio signals, in an annex to the ITU List IV – List of coast stations and special service stations, and in the GMDSS Master Plan published in the IMO Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS).

RELEVANT DOCUMENTS (AVAILABLE ONLY TO SUBSCRIBERS):

NAVTEX MANUAL

A.705(17): Promulgation of Maritime Safety Information

MSC.1/Circ.1287/Rev.1: AMENDMENTS TO RESOLUTION A.705(17)

A.706(17): World-Wide Navigational Warning Service

MSC.1/Circ.1288/Rev.1: AMENDMENTS TO RESOLUTION A.706(17)

A.1051(27): IMO/WMO Worldwide Met-Ocean Information and Warning Service – Guidance Document

MSC.1/Circ.1310/Rev.1: REVISED JOINT IMO/IHO/WMO MANUAL ON MARITIME SAFETY INFORMATION (MSI)

MSC.1/Circ.1364/Rev.2: INTERNATIONAL SAFETYNET SERVICES MANUAL

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