Marine Rescue Technologies

What Marine Rescue Technologies does

Marine Rescue Technologies, trading as sMRT, manufactures and supplies personal man overboard (MOB) safety systems for commercial and leisure maritime users worldwide. The company was founded in 1975 and is registered in England as Marine Rescue Technologies Limited, operating from a main trading address in Hull and a registered office in Beverley, East Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Wescom Group, a diversified conglomerate with a multi-century heritage in specialist pyrotechnic products.

The core product is the sMRT ALERT, a personal MOB beacon that combines AIS (Automatic Identification System) and VHF DSC (Digital Selective Calling) technologies in a single compact unit, with water-activated automatic alerting, audible and visual signaling, GPS and Galileo satellite positioning, and life jacket integration. The device is Class M compliant under maritime safety standards. The portfolio is completed by related distress beacons, base units for MOB alerting and tracking on the vessel side, integrated personal flotation devices (life jackets), and a companion mobile app for beacon management. Certifications include ISO 27001 membership, GDPR compliance, and sector-specific Class M compliance. The product surface is engineered around deterministic radio and satellite signaling rather than software intelligence.

Revenue is generated through hardware sales distributed via a global dealer network, supplemented by self-serve trade and warranty portals for direct trade-customer access. End markets span six verticals: Leisure Marine (primary), Offshore Wind, Helicopter Transfer, Oil and Gas, Aquaculture, and Workboat. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is handled through contact-based sales. No venture funding, institutional equity, or revenue figures are publicly available; a single debt facility of approximately $985,815 was received from NPIF - FW Capital Debt Finance in January 2020. Headcount is reported in the 11-50 range, consistent with a focused specialist hardware manufacturer operating within a larger parent group.

Name

Marine Rescue Technologies

Legal name

Marine Rescue Technologies Limited

Website

https://mrtsos.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1975

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Marine Rescue Technologies (sMRT) manufactures and supplies man overboard safety devices combining AIS and VHF DSC technologies for maritime sectors including leisure marine, offshore wind, oil and gas, and aquaculture globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marine Safety Equipment

NAICS

Ship Building and Repairing (336611)

SIC

Miscellaneous Transportation Equipment (3790)

akta.pro primary industry

Submarine Safety, Escape & Rescue Systems Manufacturing (IMAJAOAL)

Keywords

• Maritime safety equipment
• Man overboard beacons
• Distress beacons
• Personal locator beacons
• Marine rescue devices

Headquarters

HQ city

Beverley

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Marine Safety Hardware: Manufacture and supply of maritime survivor locating devices including distress beacons, base units, and life jackets. Revenue from product sales to maritime industries worldwide.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Marine Rescue Technologies designs, manufactures and supplies commercial man overboard (MOB) survivor locating devices, including AIS and VHF DSC distress beacons, vessel-side base units for alerting and tracking, life jackets with integrated distress signalling, and a companion mobile application. The company serves offshore energy, workboat, helicopter transfer, aquaculture and leisure marine customers globally through a dealer network.

Product overview

Marine Rescue Technologies (branded as sMRT) offers a unified portfolio of personal marine safety products, centred on its distress beacon line. The core offering comprises Distress Beacons (including the flagship sMRT ALERT AIS DSC MOB combining AIS and VHF DSC technology), Base Units for MOB alerting and tracking, Life Jackets with integrated distress signalling, and a companion Mobile App. These products work together to provide end-to-end maritime survivor locating and rescue capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• sMRT ALERT: AIS DSC MOB beacon combining AIS and VHF DSC technology with water activation, audible and visual signalling, and life jacket integration.

Products and services

• sMRT ALERT AIS DSC MOB Beacon Personal locator beacon combining AIS and VHF DSC distress signalling for crew-overboard incidents on commercial and leisure vessels, designed to meet Class M requirements and alert nearby vessels and the wearer's own vessel.
• Distress Beacons Range of personal maritime distress beacons used to signal and locate individuals in distress at sea, sold to commercial and leisure marine users through the dealer network.
• Base Units (MOB Alerting and Tracking) Vessel-side base units that receive alerts from personal MOB beacons and display position and bearing information on board to support rapid recovery, used by commercial vessel operators.
• Life Jackets with Integrated Distress Signalling Personal flotation devices (life jackets) supplied with integrated distress signalling electronics so that the beacon is automatically deployed and activated when worn in the water, for commercial and leisure marine crew.
• sMRT Companion Mobile App Mobile application that pairs with sMRT beacons and base units to support device management, beacon testing and viewing of distress alerts, for use by vessel crews and safety managers.

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Wescom GroupcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerParent company relationship. sMRT is part of Wescom Group, the world-renowned manufacturer of specialist pyrotechnic products. Wescom Group provides heritage and reputation for world class quality and design innovation traced back four centuries.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Garmin (Marine segment): Diversified marine electronics incumbent offering chartplotters, VHF radios, and integrated AIS safety functionality that increasingly bundles MOB features into broader bridge systems — a platform risk to standalone beacon makers like sMRT.
• Raymarine (FLIR): Major marine electronics brand supplying integrated bridge systems that incorporate AIS and man-overboard functionality, representing an adjacent incumbency that can compress standalone MOB hardware value.

Emerging players

• SafeTrx: Smartphone-based marine safety and tracking application that delivers an alternative to dedicated MOB beacons in the leisure segment — a low-cost substitute that could erode sMRT's recreational volume.
• Mobilarm: Specialist in crew safety and man-overboard alerting systems for commercial vessels and offshore platforms, with overlapping use cases to sMRT in Oil & Gas, Workboat, and crew-transfer segments.
• WamBlee: Producer of personal marine safety beacons and PFD-integrated locating devices targeting leisure and light commercial markets — comparable niche positioning to sMRT's hobbyist and small-vessel products.

Direct peers

• ACR Electronics: US-based manufacturer of EPIRBs, PLBs, and AISLink MOB devices serving commercial, military, and leisure marine markets — directly comparable product portfolio, distribution, and regulatory positioning to sMRT.
• Ocean Signal: UK-based marine safety electronics manufacturer best known for the rescueME AIS MOB beacon, which is one of sMRT's closest direct competitors in personal AIS/DSC man-overboard beacons serving leisure and commercial marine customers.
• Kannad Marine (Orolia / Safran): Produces SafeLink and Kannad marine distress beacons (EPIRBs, PLBs, AIS MOB) under the McMurdo brand — overlapping AIS/DSC product line and commercial maritime customer base with sMRT.
• Sea Marshall: Manufacturer of personal MOB locator beacons for commercial marine and offshore workers; competes head-to-head with sMRT in the offshore, workboat, and crew-transfer safety categories.

Others

• Spinlock / marine PFD brands: UK-based marine PFD and deck-safety hardware manufacturer that competes in the integrated life-jacket category where sMRT also plays, and represents a complementary rather than direct overlap in the broader life-safety equipment basket.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Marine-Rescue-Technologies-1652386171491380
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/marine-rescue-technologies-ltd
• Instagraminstagram.com/mrtsos
• Xx.com/MarineRescueTec

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Marine Rescue Technologies