Tankers generated 203 Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) distress calls over Inmarsat’s network in 2025, more than any other vessel type and the highest tanker tally in at least four years, according to Inmarsat Maritime.
The total rose from 194 in 2024, 159 in 2023 and 160 in 2022, extending tankers’ run at the top of the vessel-type ranking to eight consecutive years.
Overall GMDSS traffic moved the other way, falling to 741 calls in 2025 from 801 in 2024 and 788 in 2023. Bulk carriers ranked second with 105 calls, while containerships recorded 54 and placed fifth.
The figures are included in Inmarsat Maritime’s Maritime Safety Data Hub, launched on 1 September. It combines three years of GMDSS data with analysis of 106,975 maritime safety broadcasts transmitted during 2025.
The research was carried out with supply-chain consultancy SeaFocus. Weather accounted for 84.6% of urgent maritime safety broadcasts in 2025, with storms making up 75% of identified weather hazards. Some distress calls originated in areas where weather warnings had previously been transmitted, although the analysis does not establish weather as the cause.
Operational disruption has also pushed some containerships onto longer routes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding as much as two weeks to voyages and increasing fuel consumption, crew workload and vessel exposure.
Inmarsat Maritime is part of US satellite communications group Viasat, which acquired Inmarsat in May 2023. Inmarsat was established in 1979 following an International Maritime Organization initiative to develop satellite communications for safety at sea.