Canadian Coast Guard Information Kit

Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS)

The Canadian Coast Guard’s (CCG) MCTS program delivers radio communications and vessel traffic services to the marine community and the public at large.

The MCTS program provides:

• marine distress and safety communications;
• screening of vessels entering Canadian waters;
• regulation of vessel traffic in selected Canadian waters; and
• pertinent marine information and public correspondence service, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The MCTS program contributes to the safety of life at sea, the protection of the marine environment, the efficient movement of shipping in waterways and the provision of essential information to mariners. Through the MCTS program, search and rescue responders are notified of persons or vessels in distress. In addition, mariners have relevant accurate and timely information and CCG has enhanced information on vessel transit for maritime security awareness.

MCTS officers ensure prompt responses to distress calls, broadcast maritime safety information such as meteorological and navigational warnings, screen vessels entering Canadian waters, regulate vessel traffic movement to ensure safe and orderly flow of marine traffic, transmit messages related to safety and provide marine information in support of other government departments and agencies and the marine industry.

Other responsibilities of the MCTS centres include providing, on a cost-recovery basis, the exchange of communications between ships and land-based customers.

Twenty-two MCTS centres, staffed by 340 qualified MCTS officers, provide services throughout five regions. In the Canadian Arctic, MCTS centres in Iqaluit and Inuvik provide these services only during the navigational season from mid-May to late November.

Annually, the centres respond to more than 1,600 vessels with defective or deficient equipment. They also monitor in excess of 850,000 vessel movements, of which more than 23,000 are tankers.

The MCTS program is a major component in maintaining marine safety by providing continuous watching of international distress frequencies. This program is the first step in assisting vessels in actual or potential distress, initiating and coordinating search and rescue communications.

MCTS services are provided to several main client groups:

• commercial and fishing vessels;
• recreational boaters;
• port authorities;
• shipping and marine industries;
• pilots;
• the general public;
• provincial and territorial governments;
• other CCG and departmental programs; and
• other government departments, agencies and organizations:
  • Transport Canada;
  • Citizenship and Immigration Canada;
  • Environment Canada;
  • Department of National Defence;
  • Royal Canadian Mounted Police;
  • Public Health Agency of Canada;
  • Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; and
  • Canada Revenue Agency.