Based on the results of Rosmorrechflot’s inspection, conducted in accordance with the Regulations on the approval of equipment types and inspection of the facilities and centers approved by the Order of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation No. 32 dated 10.02.2010, FSUE “Rosmorport” has received Certificate No. GMDSS-3/1-3252-2022 of 23.03.2022 and Certificate No. GMDSS-3/1-3251-2022 of 23.03.2022. There are the certificates on the compliance of coastal facilities of the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A1 and the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A2 to the requirements of the Order of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation No. 226 dated 23.07.2015 and the possibility of their use in GMDSS.
According to Rosmorport, both coastal stations were built and put into operation between 2002 and 2005. In 2006, 2012 and 2017, the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A1 and the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A2 successfully passed inspections for their compliance with the current requirements for the operation of this equipment in the GMDSS system.
St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A1 consists of a communications control center and a base radio station “Saint Petersburg” located in the seaport of Big Port Saint-Petersburg, as well as base radio stations “Gorki”, “Primorsk”, “Vysotsk” located in the seaports of Ust-Luga, Primorsk and Vysotsk, and the base radio station “Gogland”, located on the Gogland Island.
St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A2 consists of a communications control center, which is located in St. Petersburg, a receiving radio station “Gorki”, located in the village of Gorki, and a transmitting radio station “Karavaldai”, located on the Karavaldaysky peninsula.
The range of the base radio stations of the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A1 ranges from 16.4 to 38.6 nautical miles.
The range of the receiving and transmitting radio stations of the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A2 is 137 nautical miles.
With the help of the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A1 and the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A2:
- keeping the uninterrupted radio watch and radio exchange in the range of very high frequencies (for Sea Area A1) and medium waves (for Sea Area A2) of the marine-mobile service, permanently pick up messages of distress by using the digital selective call and maintain stable contacts with vessels in the mode of radio telephony;
- maintaining contacts with vessels and the maritime rescue coordination center of FSBI “The Administration of Seaports of the Baltic Sea” in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea to organize rescue operations;
- automatically carry out procedures for processing signals of distress, urgency and security by using the digital selective call with vessels at sea within the area the boundary of which has been determined pursuant to the criteria established by the International Maritime Organization for coastal radio stations of Sea Area A1 and Sea Area A2 and to ensure security.
On average, more than 113 thousand vessels are located in the area of operation of the St Petersburg Coastal Stations of GMDSS every year.
Operators of the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A1 and the St Petersburg Coastal Station of GMDSS Sea Area A2 provided radio communications for several search and rescue operations. In particular, they participated in three operations to evacuate several people from motor vessels at sea who needed medical assistance, and one operation to rescue the driver of an overturned jet ski in the area of buoy No. 1 of the Ship Channel.