Originally Posted by
BonnieLass
AIS delay which has been commonplace for all ships in the region, caused by either AIS land station damage or shut down or actions taken on the ship's bridge to turn the system off to evade detection (which is illegal to do but understandable in the case of the Strait of Hormuz where there is conflict).
It Is not illegal to switch off AIS if the master of the ship deems that it is a security risk although every news company seems to report ships running without AIS as being "Dark" and up yo no good etc.
https://assets.publishing.service.go...2eb79/1795.pdf
Operation of AIS
10. The changes to Chapter V of SOLAS introduce a new requirement to maintain AIS in
operation at all times, although the requirement is largely a reinforcement of the existing
requirements to automatically provide and receive AIS information. The requirement is bound by
the exception of “where international agreements, rules or standards provide for the protection
of navigational information.” These agreements, rules or standards refer to the IMO Guidelines
for the Onboard Operational Use of Shipborne Automatic Identification Systems (Resolution
A.917(22)). Paragraph 21 of these guidelines was modified by the 23 rd Assembly in December
2003 to introduce concepts for security incidents and mandatory reporting systems. The
complete text of paragraph 21 is now:
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“AIS should always be in operation when ships are underway or at anchor. If the master
believes that the continual operation of AIS might compromise the safety or security of his / her
ship or where security incidents are imminent, the AIS may be switched off. Unless it would
further comprise the safety or security, if the ship is operating in a mandatory reporting system,
the master should report this action and the reason for doing so to the competent authority.
Actions of this nature should always be recorded in the ship’s logbook together with the reason
for doing so. The master should however restart the AIS as soon as the source of danger has
disappeared. If the AIS unit is shut-down, static data and voyage related information remains
stored. Restart is done by switching on the power to the AIS unit. Ship’s own data will be
transmitted after a two minute initialisation period. In ports AIS operation should be in
accordance with port requirements.”