Maritime / Ship licences

Who does this licence apply to?

• Persons or other legal entities that own a maritime vessel with radio transmitting equipment fitted on-board. 

• Persons or other legal entities that own and/or operate radio transmitting equipment for the purpose of communicating with maritime vessels.

Ship licences - VHF radio

VHF marine radiotelephones may be installed either on vessels or used as portable transceivers. They may be used on New Zealand vessels under a General User Radio Licence, which does not require vessels to be individually licensed.

A unique radio call sign is required for each vessel. This can be obtained along with an MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identifier) number from an approved radio examiner.

Because operators of marine radiotelephones are required by their Licence to have an appropriate radio operator qualification, the approved radio examiner may ask for details of qualification during the call. VHF radio operators need a Marine Operators Qualification, courses and examinations are available nation-wide from approved radio examiners. 

Approved radio examiners may issue call signs as prescribed in PIB46.

The call sign series:

• ZMQ 2000 - 9999, ZMS 2000 - 9999, 

• ZMT 2000 - 9999, ZMW 2000 – 9999 and
  

• ZMY (2000 to 9999)

are for VHF-only vessels, and allocated only by approved radio examiners, these call sign records are neither administered by Radio Spectrum Management, nor recorded on Radio Spectrum Management’s online Register of Radio Frequencies unless they have an associated MMSI.

Ship licences – commercial vessels

Requirements for radio operators on commercial vessels will vary depending on the radio equipment installed, number of passengers and requirements of current safety legislation. Owners should approach their Safe Ship Management Company or the Maritime New Zealand (Ph: 0508 22 55 22) for further advice.

Information on the use of maritime frequencies in New Zealand for safety in particular can be sourced from the Maritime New Zealand and New Zealand Nautical Almanac.

Ship licences - Single Sideband Radios (SSB)

SSB(MF/HF) marine radiotelephones installed on New Zealand vessels are operated under a General User Radio Licence, which does not require vessels to be licensed individually. SSB (MF/HF) call signs along with an MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identifier) number can be obtained from Approved Radio Examiners (ARX’s).

Operators of marine radio equipment must hold an appropriate operator’s certificate, available from an Approved Examiner. 

Vessels travelling overseas

When engaged in international voyaging a vessel owner may have difficulty in convincing a foreign port authority that the Radiocommunications Regulations (General User Radio Licence for Maritime purposes) Notice 2007 and a callsign record in SMART constitutes a valid radio licence, hence vessel owners may choose to maintain an individual licence for their vessel (and pay an annual fee) so that they can present a copy of the radio licence to officials in foreign ports.

You may change between a call sign record and an individual licence (or vice-versa) at any time, simply by contacting RSM on Freephone 0508 RSM INFO (0508 776 463), or by email to rsmlicensing@med.govt.nz. If you are changing from a call sign record to an individual licence, annual administration fees will apply.

Application for a Maritime Ship licence for a vessel travelling overseas can also be made online or by sending RSM a completed Radio 1 application form [170 kB PDF]. For applicable fees refer to the fees schedule.

Call sign series allocated by the Radio Spectrum Management to individually licences vessels are stipulated in the appendix of PIB46. These call sign records can be searched online in SMART.

Coast stations

From the 1st November 2007 most VHF Coast Stations are able to operate under the provisions of the General User Radio Licence which does not require stations to be individually licensed.

Some Coast Stations will continue to require an individual licence, these are:

• All MF/HF Coast Stations.
  

• All VHF Coast Stations that are remotely accessed. These Coast Stations are typically located on a high point to extend the coverage of the Coast Station and linked by a UHF fixed link or a landline to the radio operator.

Instructions to make an application for all land based maritime licences and repeater stations can be found online.

Maritime land station transmitters can be searched online in SMART. Call signs are allocated in accordance with ITU-R and IMO provisions.

Navigation equipment

Most radar and other navigation equipment acting as a transmitter on vessels and radio buoys are covered by the Licence which covers the operation of the radio equipment on board the vessel in New Zealand waters.

Note: You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to view and print the PDF documents.