Global Maritime Distress Safety System for Spain
In August 2008, the Spanish Ministry of Development through “Marina Mercante” awarded the contract for the provision of maritime rescue communication service: Together with its prime contractor Abertis Telecom, the Austrian headquartered high tech company Frequentis is to supply a GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress Safety System) for the monitoring of the Spanish coastal waters.
Service commission contract
The actual order covers a period of 4 years, with an option of another 4 years of operation.The contract comprises the service commission for the monitoring of the Spanish coastal waters, based on a GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress Safety System), an internationally agreed-upon set of safety procedures, types of equipment, and communication protocols used to increase safety and make it easier to rescue seafarers in distress. GMDSS consists of several systems, allowing the performance of functions as alerting, search and rescue coordination, locating (homing), maritime safety information broadcasts, general communications, and bridge-to-bridge communications.
With a scheduled go live end of April 2009, Abertis Telecom and Frequentis will provide the Office of the Merchant Navy with the communication services on the VHF, MF, and HF wavebands for the different maritime navigation zones, as well as the establishment and maintenance of the network of coastal stations and radio-maritime communication centres.
November, 2008