This IFM should be used by a ship to report its waypoints and/or its route plan. If the reporting ship uses this IFM 17 within an addressed binary message, then the waypoints and/or the route plan will be available to the addressed recipient, e.g. VTS or other ship, only. If the reporting ship uses this IFM 17 within a broadcast binary message, then the information will be available to all other AIS stations in its vicinity.
When transmitting a route plan the transmitting station should include up to 14 next waypoints (NWP), if available, and/or a route specified by a textual description, if available. The next waypoints should be transmitted in the order of the intended passage.