Industry-first analysis combines three years of GMDSS distress call data with almost 107,000 maritime safety broadcasts, revealing how extreme weather, operational pressures and geopolitical disruption shape risk at sea
Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat company, has launched a new Maritime Safety Data Hub, providing the maritime industry with unique insights as well as direct access to the comprehensive analysis of risks shaping global shipping.
The new platform combines three years of Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) data with an industry-first analysis of 106,975 maritime safety broadcasts transmitted in 2025.
The Maritime Safety Data Hub is designed to provide a broader view of maritime risk, moving beyond individual incidents to identify patterns, emerging trends and changes in the conditions affecting vessel and crew safety.
Analysis of the 106,975 maritime safety broadcasts found that weather accounted for 84.6% of all urgent messages, with storms representing 75% of identified weather hazards. By linking safety broadcasts to GMDSS distress calls, the study identified several instances where distress calls came from areas where a weather warning had been delivered. This highlights the importance of safety broadcasts in helping vessels anticipate weather hazards and thereby avoid needing to make distress calls.
Inmarsat’s findings, carried out in partnership with the data analysts at supply chain consultancy SeaFocus, are particularly significant as shipping faces increasing exposure to extreme weather, longer voyages, evolving trade routes, and growing operational complexity. While weather warnings cannot be interpreted as the cause of maritime incidents, the analysis demonstrates a clear temporal relationship between meteorological hazards and periods of elevated operational risk.
John Dodd, Director of Maritime Safety, Inmarsat Maritime, commented: “By bringing weather information together with distress data, the Inmarsat Maritime Safety Data Hub introduces a powerful new layer of maritime intelligence. The unique insights made available through this research will help the industry better understand the factors shaping maritime safety – and move from simply reacting to incidents to exploring the conditions, patterns, and emerging risks that surround them.
“The value of maritime safety information lies in giving ships and shipping operators the time to make informed decisions. Whether the threat is extreme weather or geopolitical instability, early awareness enables crews to take action that protects lives, vessels, and cargo.”
Inmarsat received a similar number of GMDSS calls in 2025 (741) as in 2023 (788) and 2024 (801), with the three-year trend remaining broadly consistent with historical averages. Each of these GMDSS calls has a direct link to maritime safety and lives at sea, hence reiterating the importance of safety services.
In 2025, continued disruption in the Red Sea, sanctions affecting global tanker operations, and heightened tensions around the Persian Gulf and Black Sea altered traditional shipping routes and increased operational complexity. Electronic interference also emerged as a significant threat to commercial shipping, as GPS spoofing, signal jamming, and other navigational disruptions increased in strategically important trade corridors – particularly in the Middle East.
As in the previous two years, tankers made the highest number of GMDSS calls (203) – almost twice as many as bulk carriers in second place (105). Alongside traditional concerns such as weather, machinery failure, and navigational incidents, the tanker segment faced an evolving threat landscape characterised by sanctions regimes, electronic interference, and the rise of shadow fleets operating outside of established regulatory frameworks.
Container ships, responsible for the fifth-highest number of distress calls among vessel types (54), were also subject to GPS spoofing. In addition, to avoid the risk of physical attacks in the Red Sea, major operators diverted their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, adding up to two weeks to voyages and thereby increasing fuel consumption, crew workload, and vessel exposure.
The interactive Maritime Safety Hub puts all this intelligence directly into the hands of industry stakeholders. Users can explore trends; investigate the factors shaping maritime safety; filter data by vessel type, region, and incident category; and download the insights most relevant to them.
