Maritime Mobile Service Identity
A Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) is a se-
ries of nine digits which are sent in digital form over a
radio frequency channel in order to uniquely identify ship
stations, ship earth stations, coast stations, coast earth sta-
tions, and group calls. These identities are formed in such
a way that the identity or part thereof can be used by
telephone and telex subscribers connected to the general
telecommunications network to call ships automatically.
1 Types
There are now six kinds of maritime mobile service iden-
tities:
Ship station identities,
Group ship station identities,
Coast station identities,
Group coast station identities.
SAR aircraft
Navigational aids and craft associated with a parent
ship
2 Maritime identication digits
(MID)
An MID consists of three digits, always starting with a
number from 2 to 7 (assigned regionally). A second MID
can be assigned once the rst or subsequently allocated
MID is more than 80% exhausted, and the rate of assign-
ments is such that 90% exhaustion is foreseen. A listing
of MIDs assigned to each country is written in Table 1 of
ITU Radio Regulations Appendix 43.
3 The rst digit of an MMSI
The initial digits of an MMSI categorize the identity, as
dened in by Recommendation M.585.[1] The meaning
of the rst digit is:
0 Ship group, coast station, or group of coast stations
1 For use by SAR aircraft (111MIDaxx)[note 1][2]
1
2-7 MMSIs used by individual ships, beginning
with an MID:
2 Europe (e.g., Italy has MID 247; Denmark
has MIDs 219 and 220)
3 North and Central America and Caribbean
(e.g., Canada, 316; Panama, 351, 352, 353,
354, 355, 356, 357, 370, 371, 372, and 373)
4 Asia (e.g., PRC, 412, 413, and 414; Mal-
dives, 455)
5 Oceania (Australia, 503; New Zealand, 512)
6 Africa (Eritrea, 625)
7 South America (Peru, 760)
8 Handheld VHF transceiver with DSC and GNSS[3]
9 Devices using a free-form number identity:[2]
Search and Rescue Transponders
(970yyzzzz)[note 2][4][note 3][5]
Man overboard DSC and/or AIS devices
(972yyzzzz)[note 2]
406 MHz EPIRBs tted with an AIS transmit-
ter (974yyzzzz)[note 2]
craft associated with a parent ship
(98MIDxxxx)[note 4]
navigational aids (AtoNs; 99MIDaxxx)[note 5]
Notes
[1] The seventh digit (a) may, but does not have to, desig-
nate where the aircraft is xed-wing (a = 1) or a helicopter
(a = 5) if desired. The a digit can also simply be used
like the other x digits if the distinction is not desired.
[2] Where yy is a numeric ID assigned to a manufacturer,
and zzzz is a sequence number chosen by that manufac-
turer.
[3] Manufacturer IDs / codes are assigned by Comit Interna-
tional Radio-Maritime (CIRM), the International Associ-
ation for Marine Electronics Companies, as delegated by
the ITU.
[4] The devices that use these MMSIs may be located in
lifeboats, life-rafts, rescue-boats, etc.
[5] The a digit may be used to designate the type of AtoN:
1 for physical, 6 for virtual. The a digit can also simply
be used like the other x digits if the distinction is not
desired.
2 5 EXHAUSTION OF MMSIS

4 Station Identity Formats 00MID0000 for any coast station using the
MID
4.1 Ship station identities 009990000 for any VHF coast station (regard-
less of MID)
The 9-digit code constituting a ship station identity is
formed as follows: US Coast Guard stations use a non-standard MMSI:
003669999 - any US Coast Guard Base station Note that
MIDxxxxxx administrations in other countries may use dierent for-
mats.
where MID represent the Maritime Identication Digits
Reference: ITU-R Recommendations M.585-7
and X is any gure from 0 to 9. If the ship is tted with an
Inmarsat B, C or M ship earth station, or it is expected to
be so equipped in the foreseeable future, then the identity 4.2.3 Search and Rescue Transmitter
should have three trailing zeros:
AIS Search and Rescue Transmitters (AIS-SART) have
MIDxxx000 an identier related to the manufacturer, rather than a
countrys MID:[6]
If the ship is tted with an Inmarsat C ship earth station,
or it is expected to be so equipped in the foreseeable fu- 970YYxxxx
ture, then the identity could have one trailing zero:
The digitals represented by the two Y characters are as-
MIDxxxxx0
signed by the International Association for Marine Elec-
tronics Companies and refer to the SART manufacturer,
If the ship is tted with an Inmarsat A ship earth station,
while the Xs are sequential digits assigned by the manu-
or has satellite equipment other than Inmarsat, then the
facturer identifying the SART.
identity needs no trailing zero.

4.2 Group ship station call identities 4.3 Federal US MMSIs

In the United States (one of whose MIDs is 366), federal
Group ship station call identities for calling simultane-
MMSIs are assigned by the National Telecommunications
ously more than one ship are formed as follows:
and Information Administration, and are normally (but
0MIDxxxxx not always) formed as 3669xxxxx. Non-federal MMSIs
are assigned by the Federal Communications Commis-
where the rst gure is zero, and X is any gure from sion normally as part of the ship station license applica-
0 to 9. The particular MID represents only the country tion, and are formed as 366xxx000 for ships on inter-
assigning the group ship station call identity and so does national voyages and ships needing an Inmarsat mobile
not prevent group calls to eets containing more than one earth station, or 366xxxxx0 for all other ships.
ship nationality. The United States Coast Guard group ship station call
identity is 036699999, and group coast station call iden-
tity is 003669999.
4.2.1 Coast station identities
In the U.S., MMSIs are primarily used for digital selective
Coast station identities are formed as follows: calling and for assigning Inmarsat identities.

00MIDxxxx
5 Exhaustion of MMSIs
where the rst two gures are zeros, and X is any gure
from 0 to 9. The MID reects the country in which the
Because all ships on international voyages, as well as all
coast station or coast earth station is located.
ships tted with an Inmarsat B or M ship earth station,
are assigned MMSIs of the format MIDxxx000, a seri-
4.2.2 Group coast station call identities ous problem has arisen internationally in assigning su-
cient numbers of MIDs to all administrations that need
Group coast station call identities for calling simultane- them. For example, a country having 10,000 Inmarsat-
ously more than one coast station have the same format as equipped ships would require 10 MIDs just to accommo-
individual coast station IDs: two leading zeros, the MID, date those 10,000 ships. If 50,000 boaters decided to t
and the four digits.[6] They are formed as a subset of coast small Inmarsat M terminals, 50 additional MIDs would
station identities, as follows: be required to accommodate them.
 3

The problem exists with Inmarsat-equipped ships be- 8 External links

cause ITU-T recommendations require that Inmarsat
ship earth stations be assigned the identity (MESIN) MARITIME MOBILE SERVICE IDENTITY
TMIDxxxYY, where T indicates the type of Inmarsat (MMSI), USCG, which was adapted from Ap-
station, YY indicates the Inmarsat station extension pendix 43 of the International Telecommunications
(e.g."00 might indicate a telephone in the bridge, 01 Union Radio Regulations
might indicate a fax machine in the radio room, etc.), and
MIDxxx indicates the ship station number, which relates Table of MIDs from ITU
to the assigned ship station identity MIDxxx000.
The MMSI was meant to be an all-inclusive ship elec-
tronic identity, used in one form or another by every
GMDSS or telecommunications instrument on the ship.
Questions have been raised, however, whether the MMSI
can in practice totally fulll that role. ITU may eventually
end the practice of relating Inmarsat MESIN identities
with the ship MMSI identity.
The World Radio Conference, Geneva, 1997 (WRC-97),
adopted Resolution 344 concerning the exhaustion of the
maritime mobile service identity resource. In view of im-
provements to public switched telephone networks, and
new capabilities of the Inmarsat system other than In-
marsat B or M, previous restrictions should no longer be
applicable. All nine digits of the MMSI can be used in
such cases, and no longer need to end in trailing zeros.

6 See also
Automatic Identication System uses MMSI code-
groups for ship ID
Global Maritime Distress Safety System
Maritime call sign, not tied to MMSI but can contain
MMSI after
SOLAS Convention a global Maritime Safety Con-
vention

7 References
[1] M.585 : Assignment and use of identities in the maritime
mobile service. International Telecommunication Union.
[2] Recommendation M.585-4 (03/07)". ITU. March 2007.
First specied in this revision; carried forward in newer
versions of the M.585 recommendation.
[3] Recommendation ITU-R M.585-7 (03/2015): Assign-
ment and use of identities in the maritime mobile service
(PDF). Geneva, Switzerland: ITU. March 2015.
[4] Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI)". Australian
Maritime Safety Authority.
[5] Liaison Statement to CIRM: Identities for AIS-SART,
MOB and EPIRB-AIS (PDF). 2011-06-22. Retrieved
2014-03-30.
[6] Maritime Mobile Service Identity. U.S. Coast Guard
Navigation Center.
4 9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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