Yes. Under present IMO regulations, there are several layers of identifying technology on board. There is long-range tracking and a technology called AIS, automatic identification systems. With AIS, when a vessel is interrogated by another ship's radar, a brief snapshot of the vessel—what it is, where it's going, what it's carrying—appears to the other ship. It's a vessel-to-vessel technology. So when one is operating near another, rather than call on the radio, “Blue vessel with the white superstructure”, they can now call each another by name. This technology is being activated. Coastal states now have the ability to identify vessels at long range using this same procedure. So yes, there are several layers of identification on board a ship.
On October 27th, 2009. See this statement in context.