Ship-shore Voice Communication upon Ships' Port Entry: A Case-based Analysis of Compliance with Existing Communication Standards

Ship-shore verbal communication before a ship enters a port can be defined as a subgenre of the broader category of verbal maritime communication. As such, it is governed by the standard procedures and rules set by the International Telecommunication Union (Manual for Use by the Maritime Mobile and Maritime Mobile-Satellite Services), International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (G1132 Guideline: VTS VHF Voice Communication), and International Maritime Organization (IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases).Based on a qualitative analysis of two transcripts of ship-shore communication before ships' entry into the Port of Koper, Slovenia, this paper aims to establish the compliance of these two communication excerpts with the aforementioned standards. The findings reveal numerous communication inconsistencies on the ship and shore sides, but also incongruence among the documents that ought to provide a clear regulatory framework for verbal maritime communication.