The IMO’s Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation (NAV) held its 59th session from 2 to 6 September 2013 in London. 500 delegates from IMO member states and other international organizations attended this conference. Representatives of Maritime Section of Chinese Embassy in UK, China MSA, China Satellite Navigation Office, China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, Shenzhen MSA and Shanghai MSA were present at the conference.
The topics of the conference included application of satellite navigation system “BEIDOU” (BDS) in the maritime field, the e-navigation technology and routing of ships. The sub-committee approved the draft performance standards for shipborne BDS receiver equipment for adoption by MSC and invited the International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC) to develop relevant technical standards in testing for type approval of such equipment. Chinese representatives actively responded and explainedthe questions raised by the delegates and helped them fully understand BDS.
China MSA under Ministry of Transport, taking the lead in promoting the international standardization of BDS, has been working hard on organizing related units to draft the proposals and plans, coordinating the representatives, etc., which helped strongly promote the approval of the draft performance standards for shipborne BDS receiver equipment. It also marked that breakthrough has been made on international standardization of BDS.