Ship numbers are unique ship identification numbers issued to the ships by an authority. Here I would like to introduce 5 kinds of Ship Numbers Systems to you.
1. Global shipping number system - It is mainly based on the information of the ship’s type, its building place and time of its construction. This ship numbering system developed somewhere in 1998. This system is based on specific information like place and time of manufacture of the ship. The basic idea of the GSN system is to assign a unique 8 digit number to every ship. However, the main source of this database remains the information of ships already available.
2. Pennant number - Another type of number allotted to ships for their easy identification. Used mainly in some parts of Europe and the modern Royal navy, this system uses the information about the ship depending on its type.
3. Listing by the Hull number - A system of ship numbers famous mostly in US navy; this is a rather old system which dates back to 1880s. However, a newer version of this system was introduced somewhere in 1920 when the information of ships in US navy was combined using their hull number mentioned for every ship and a unique alphabetical code assigned to the ship.
4. IMO number system - Its one of the most commonly used and popular system of ship identification is the IMO number system. This is the numbering system issued by the International Maritime Organization. This IMO number is one of the most important of the ship numbers.
5. MMSI numbering system - Use of a Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number. This is a nine digit number which is transmitted over the radio channels to be picked up by earth ship stations all over the world.
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