The discrepancy between standardised communication patterns and the real-life conversations of vessel traffic service: a
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The discrepancy between standardised communication patterns and the real-life conversations of vessel traffic service: a case study in Chittagong Port, Bangladesh Raju Ahmmed 1 Received: 28 June 2020 / Accepted: 19 October 2020/ # World Maritime University 2020
Abstract In 2001, the International Maritime Organization developed Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP), which contained the communication protocols for vessel traffic services (VTS). However, there are conflicting findings whether SMCP should be rigorously followed in VTS communications. To address this controversy, the reallife conversation features in the VTS of Chittagong Port, Bangladesh, were compared with those of SMCP to identify similarities and differences. The researcher used a qualitative research design by visiting the VTS centre of Chittagong Port and recording port radio channels 12 and 16 for 3 days and then transcribed the data to analyse by codes and themes. The results of this study showed that in 35% of the cases, the conversation features corresponded to SMCP patterns, while in 65% of the situations, there were deviations. The features that matched with SMCP were fundamental for radio communication, whereas in the cases of deviations, the language used was similar to ordinary spoken English. The use of everyday conversational English in SMCP deviations suggests that maritime students need to master both ordinary spoken English and SMCP skills. The results of this research can benefit foreign seafarers, apprentice cadets and Bangladeshi maritime authorities to understand the patterns of English communication exchanged in Chittagong VTS and to pursue a more effective communication policy in the future. Keywords Vessel traffic service . Maritime English communication . Standard Marine
Communication Phrases . Human factor . Communication policy
* Raju Ahmmed [email protected]
1
Department of English, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University, Bangladesh, 14/06-14/23, Pallabi Mirpur-12, Dhaka 1216, Bangladesh
Ahmmed R.
1 Introduction Vessel traffic service (VTS) is a shore-based communication aid between port authorities and ships. VTS communication serves the safety of life, environmental protection, and the improvement of navigational performance. Communication in VTS is managed by Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP), which was developed in 2001 by International Maritime Organization (IMO) to facilitate maritime communication at sea for speakers whose mother tongue was not English. Due to poor communication, many ship accidents occurred, prompting IMO to develop SMCP as a standard communication procedure. IMO recommends adopting these standard practices as much as possible, and the ability to use SMCP is considered a recruitment criterion for working on merchant ships. SMCP consists mainly of structured sentence patterns covering both internal (exchanges within the crew of a vessel) and external (interaction between the ships and VTS) communications. Several studies have shown that SMCP patterns have
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