The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is requesting that owners and operators of several makes of AIS transmitter ensure they are taking the necessary steps to prevent erroneous AIS tranmissions.

The MCA released a Marine Information Note (MIN298) naming the following devices:

· ACR/Nauticast AIS
· Raytheon Marine RM808 AIS
· ACR Global Watch UAIS
· Marine Technologies Bridgemate AIS
· Nauticast X-Packs DS

These sets have been identified as possible sources transmitting a default MMSI (1193046) and vessel name (Nauticast), rather than the correct identifiers for the vessel carrying the system.

“This has the potential, in certain circumstances, to cause ‘target swap’ with a possible consequence that more than one vessel can appear as a single vessel,” reads the warning.

The problem was raised in 2006 (MIN243) and is caused either by incorrect setup or the setup being lost as a result of a break in the power supply.

See www.mcga.gov.uk for full details of MIN298

See PBO November issue (on sale 4 October) for more on AIS