Standard Maritime English

What Is Standard Maritime English?
Once you have a powerful grasp of General English, it’s time to look at Maritime English.

Maritime English is also referred to as The Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP). Other names include the “internationally recognised language of the sea”.
 
• As we mentioned before, this is the working language of the seas.

• It’s used for effective communication and is vital for safe operations at sea.

• The sector relies on workers from across the world, often with limited English.

This created issues (and sometimes still does) if workers were:

• Part of a mixed nationality crew
• They are communicating between ship to shore

To overcome these issues, it was critical to create a convention and resolution.

The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping for Seafarers (STCW Convention) 1978

Key elements outlined by the convention include:

• Safety of life and property at sea
• The protection of the marine environment
• A common international standard of training, certification and watch-keeping for seafarers
• An obligation that officers must have a good command of Maritime English
• A requirement that they use English as the language for safety and security on board, particularly in areas such as:

             * Emergencies
             * On-board communication
             * Customer service on passenger ships
             * Communication with maritime authorities

The Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) 2001
This replaced the Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary (SMNV).

It made English the common language for navigation, in the event of language problems.

The need to develop this further culminated in November 2001. This is when the 22nd Assembly of the IMO adopted the SMCP by resolution A. 918 (22) with a view to:

• Assist in the greater safety of navigation and of the conduct of the ship
• Standardise the language used in communication for navigation at sea
• Improve port approaches
• To be used in waterways and harbours
• To facilitate on-board communication with multilingual crews
• Assist maritime training institutions

It then recommended this resolution to be adopted by prospective users and maritime education authorities.

What is the SMCP?

It’s a set of key phrases developed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

It’s a mandatory part of the STCW Convention.

It covers:

• External communication phrases used in ship to ship and ship to shore communications.
• Internal communication phrases used on board the ship.
• It aims to support non-native speakers of English by improving language skills. Reducing language barriers at sea is key to avoiding accidents.
• Seafarers of all nationalities must know these phrases, how they are pronounced and their use.