IMO Numbers, what are they?

[Mauretania1907]

I am reading William Mayes excellent cruise-ship book (Volume 3) and he now has a IMO number for each ship. What are these? I am guessing every ship is allocated an IMO number to identify her.
Could someone give me some info about these numbers. Who gives them out and why.
Did QE2 have such a number, if so, what is it.
In advance, many thanks to whoever gives me information.

[Twynkle]

As well as their call sign, every ship has an IMO number

Queen-Elizabeth2 - IMO 6725418
http://www.vesseltracker.com/en/Ships/Queen-Elizabeth-2-6725418.html

And here it is being put to good use!! 
http://www.seapixonline.com/nsthumbs.php?wds=Queen+Elizabeth+2&typ=name&back=temp/nsvesselsq&hit8

Before the IMO came into existence - all ships had an 'Official number'


'the International Maritime Organization – is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.'

http://www.imo.org/en/About/Pages/Default.aspx

[Mauretania1907]

Many thanks for this, Twynkle. Another fact for me to digest, does every ship have a number that remains constant, no matter how many name changes. This could be useful to track older cruise ships which become floating casinos and are dropped from books like Berlitz Cruise Guide. And would QE2 retain her number even if she becomes a hotel?

[skilly56]

Every powered ship over 100 gt has an IMO number. This hull number never changes, despite changes in ownership. Just been looking through my photo database but can not locate the folder with the numbers I have recorded for the ships I have sailed on. They are welded into the ships steel structure at various locations below deck (ie, on bulkheads, machinery spaces), prominent positions on deck, etc. Plenty of info on Google.

Skilly

[Mauretania1907]

Many thanks, Skilly, for information. I asked because I have been trying to trace several older ships built in the 1980s and 1990s and if, as you say, the IMO number is 'engraved' into the ship's structure, it becomes an excellent way to trace a ship's history. For instance I have been trying to trace the 16 ships of Renaissance Cruises ( the Little Rrrrs and the Big Rrrs as I call them) which had the most unimaginative names for cruise ships I have ever come across. Also the Lady Sarah and Lady Diana. Mayes' excellent books have them all.

[Tyne Turbine]

If you are happy to trust Wikipedia, and I cannot spot any errors on the 30000 grt ships, although on the smaller vessels I am aware that Renaissance II has changed hands after its life of Easy Cruise One, as has Renaissance VI since its days as the Hebridean Spirit, the otherwise full listing of Renaissance ships is to be found:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Cruises

[Tyne Turbine]

It would appear that Lady Sarah and Lady Diana have become Megastar Taurus and Megastar Aries repectively under the Star Cruises/Genting banner but Ais is only showing current voyage information for one vessel:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=353913000

Perhaps her sister is under overhaul.

[Mauretania1907]

Dear Tyne Turbine. Many thanks for your answer and sites. I see from Marine Traffic that Megastar Aries (formerly Lady Sarah) also has an MMSI number. What are there? (I think I might stay with IMO for the moment, but I will go to the Marinetraffic site and see what other info I can find) For fans of the Royal Viking ships, the R.V. Sea, now named Albatros, was in port today (Auckland) so I went today to see her. She's another of my old favourites that i'm glad to see are active still.
And could 26/10/1991 by Lady Sarah's launch date?
Many thanks for all your help, everyone. My lists of cruise ships expands onwards.

[Bruce Nicholls]

Hi for those that don't know he MMSI is in effect the ships phone number when calling on a modern DSC (digital selective calling) VHF radio.

Previously you would call a ship on open channel 16 and when you had raised her go to a working channel. Now you are expected to know her MMSI number and call her directly. The MMSI can be obtained from info on AIS. However if you are a small vessel without AIS it is down to luck in hoping they are still monitoring channel 16. AIS receivers are for this reason now becoming very popular on small private vessels.

Hope this helps.

[Tyne Turbine]

Pleasure if I can be of help Mauretania 1907, what else can I say to someone who bears the name of one of the Tynes most significant products.

I hope the passengers on the Albatros are enjoying the voyage as much as I enjoyed her sister the Boudicca last month.

You may be interested in this poor image of the Royal Viking Sea on one of her first voyages at North Shields on the River Tyne when she was filling in during the refit period of the regular ferry Leda on the overnight service to Bergen:

[Mauretania1907]

Dear Tyne Turbine - and other helpful people. I am trying to trace the history of a ship known as Sally Albatross - this is a ship which died and was reborn so to speak. Originally built as VIKING SAGA in 1980, she became the SALLY ALBATROSS in 1986.
On Jan 9, 1990 a fire broke out during the annual overhaul and the ship became a CTL. Her remains were towed away, the superstructure was chopped off and the hull and engines used for the(re) building. She was launched July 25, 1991 as Sally Albatros but in March 1994, she ran aground while approaching Helsinki. 2000, she became Superstar Taurus, in 2002, she was Silja Opera, in 2006, she was Opera and in 2007, she was Cristal for louis Cruise Lines. She is not listed in imonumber.com, has she finally met her doom?
My question? her IMO number is now 7827213 but was that her original number? I ask this since she was 'reincarnated' after the fire.
Also, another question, please bear with me. How to find IMO numbers for those ships recently scrapped, eg Ausonia/Ivory?
Thank you all for your patience and help, it is truely appreciated.

[Twynkle]

Hi Ellen - the Ausonia's here!
A Lovely ship - found just by putting her name and  IMO Number? into google!
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2433

Sounds as if you have lots of history about Sally Albatross already!
Here's the first page in google - as you'll see, she's mentioned over half a million times
http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Sally+Albatross&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=AMQzT9bFIqnF0QW84rm2Ag

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/search.php?search_title=sally%20Albatross
Shipspotting's one of my favourite sites!

(Mods - might this need to be in Sea Shanties?)

[Mauretania1907]

O Twynkle, what have you done to me. This site is awesome, does it cost anything to join. Mauretania has curled up in delight, chasing IMO numbers. AND Ellen has found the various incarnations of Sally Albatross all have the same number, so she is essentially the same ship, altho if you look at her, you'd think there were two ships. AND what is more, I've found IMO nos for some 1970's ships - even Kludas in his excellent Passenger Ships of the World series did not include them, mind you, the older ships had a registration number instead. I will return later, there is a radio program I want to hear.  Many, many thanks, Ellen.

[Tyne Turbine]

Further to my comment in reply 5 I see that the Hebridean Spirit is now marketed as the Caledonain Sky by Noble Caledonia.

[Mauretania1907]

  More to my insane search for ship facts. I started to compile a list of cruise ships built from 1950 onwards, it grows and grows. I limited the list from GRT 1,000 and up, else I would have lots of little ships crawling out of every backwater on Earth. I've found some fascinating stories, for instance that of Sally Albatross, which survived a fire and grounding and was still going as Louis Lines Cristal at least until end of 2009 (but I think SOLAS has finally finished her off) I found a couple of ships whose stories just about could make me cry. Check out Regent Sky, ex Stena Baltica for the saddest cruise ship story, although Cunard Ambassador runs it a good second. Balconies for sheep, anyone? Many thanks for help it is gratefully received. Ellen.

[Twynkle]

Hi Ellen

Here's are a couple of good site with lots of ships in the Gallery - Enjoy!
(Hope they aren't duplicates you may have seen before
Will post here, so that you get to see it, eventually it could be moved...)
All the best
Rosie
http://www.merchant-navy.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=192&title=albatros&cat=2
http://www.photoship.co.uk/Browse%20Misc%20Galleries/

[Roy Warrender]

Hi just checked GIGIS the IMO Register Queen Mary still has an active IMO  5287938

[Thomas Hypher]

Hi just checked GIGIS the IMO Register Queen Mary still has an active IMO  5287938

That's pleasantly surprising  . QE2 appears to still have hers: IMO 6725418

[Thomas Hypher]

Trying to not go more off topic, SS Rotterdam still appears to have hers as well: IMO 5301019

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMO_number

Reading parts of the above article it makes sense they all still appear to have their IMO numbers.

[Brandon Sterkel]

Hi just checked GIGIS the IMO Register Queen Mary still has an active IMO  5287938

That's a very interesting fact, Roy! I didn't know that!