An industry-first analysis combines three years of GMDSS distress call data with nearly 107,000 maritime safety broadcasts, showing how extreme weather, operational challenges, and geopolitical issues influence risks at sea.
Inmarsat Maritime, now part of Viasat, has introduced a new Maritime Safety Data Hub that offers the maritime industry valuable insights and direct access to detailed risk analysis affecting global shipping.
This new platform uses a unique dataset that merges three years of Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) data with an innovative analysis of 106,975 maritime safety broadcasts from 2025, providing unprecedented insight into factors that impact maritime risk. Instead of just reporting on individual incidents, it identifies trends, patterns, and the growing effects of environmental risks, operational pressures, and geopolitical instability on maritime safety.
Analysis of the 106,975 safety broadcasts revealed that weather conditions were responsible for 84.6% of all urgent messages, with storms accounting for 75% of the identified weather dangers. By connecting safety broadcasts to GMDSS distress calls, the study found several cases where distress calls originated from areas where weather warnings had been issued. This emphasizes the crucial role of safety broadcasts in helping vessels anticipate weather hazards and potentially avoid distress calls.
Inmarsat’s findings, produced alongside data analysts from supply chain consultancy SeaFocus, are especially important as the shipping industry faces increasing exposure to extreme weather, longer voyages, changing trade routes, and more operational complexity. Although weather warnings cannot be seen as direct causes of maritime incidents, the analysis shows a clear correlation between weather hazards and periods of heightened operational risk.
John Dodd, Director of Maritime Safety at Inmarsat Maritime, stated: “By combining weather data with distress information, the Inmarsat Maritime Safety Data Hub adds a powerful new layer of intelligence for the maritime sector. The unique insights from this research will help the industry better understand the factors that affect maritime safety, shifting focus from merely responding to incidents to examining the conditions, trends, and emerging risks that surround them.
“The true value of maritime safety information is that it gives ships and operators time to make smart decisions. Whether facing extreme weather or geopolitical issues, early awareness allows crews to take actions that safeguard lives, vessels, and cargo.”
Inmarsat received a similar number of GMDSS calls in 2025 (741) compared to 2023 (788) and 2024 (801), with the three-year trend remaining relatively stable compared to historical averages. Each of these GMDSS calls directly relates to maritime safety and lives at sea, underscoring the importance of safety services.
In 2025, ongoing disruptions in the Red Sea, sanctions affecting global tanker operations, and rising tensions in the Persian Gulf and Black Sea changed traditional shipping routes, increasing operational complexity. Electronic interference also became a significant threat, with GPS spoofing, signal jamming, and other navigational issues rising in crucial trade corridors, especially in the Middle East.
As in the previous two years, tankers had the highest number of GMDSS calls (203), nearly double that of bulk carriers, which were in second place (105). Besides traditional issues like weather, machinery failures, and navigational incidents, tankers faced a changing threat landscape involving sanctions, electronic interference, and the rise of shadow fleets operating outside established regulations.
Container ships, which had the fifth-highest number of distress calls among vessel types (54), were also targeted by GPS spoofing. To minimize the risk of physical attacks in the Red Sea, major operators rerouted their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, adding up to two weeks to voyages and increasing fuel consumption, crew workload, and vessel exposure.
The interactive Maritime Safety Hub provides all this information directly to industry stakeholders. Users can explore trends, investigate factors affecting maritime safety, filter data by vessel type, region, and incident category, and download the insights that matter most to them.