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LIFELINE December 2012 - English
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The International Maritime Rescue Federation is a registered company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom
and registered as a charity in England and Wales
Patron: Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, 2004-2011
Registered office: IMRF West Quay Road Poole BH15 1HZ United Kingdom Company Registration Number: 4852596 Charity Registration Number: 1100883
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE
The Newsletter of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF)
News… Experience… Ideas… Information… Development…
In this issue:
IMO reforms
News from Morocco, the Netherlands, the UK, China, Iceland and the South Pacific
Member Focus: Marine Rescue New South Wales, and ADES, Uruguay
The IMO Awards for Exceptional Bravery at Sea
and more!
DDeecceemmbbeerr
22001122
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
The future of SAR at the IMO?
We live in difficult times, financially, and all of us are having to make
savings. The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) is no
exception. When the IMO Council met in early November, it considered
a range of reforms proposed by the IMO Secretariat, driven by the need
to make economies on the budget.
One of the reforms proposed is a re-structuring of the various technical Sub-Committees that advise the Maritime Safety
Committee and the Marine Environment Protection Committee – and part of that is the proposal that the Safety of
Navigation and the Radiocommunications and SAR (COMSAR) Sub-Committees should be merged. To avoid an overload
of work, the IMO Secretariat suggested dealing with SAR separately, in a working group meeting only once every two
years. The Council has asked the Committees to comment.
While agreeing the need for reforms, the IMRF is opposed to this particular idea. The link between SAR and
communications is a vital one (literally), both as regards distress alerting and SAR response: the two subjects should
continue to be considered together at the IMO. Similarly, with nearly half the IMO Member States yet to ratify the Maritime
SAR Convention, and nearly two thirds yet to provide any details of their SAR resources – and with known gaps in the
SAR system leading to many, many deaths each year – the IMRF firmly believes that there is a great deal of work for the
IMO still to do. The focus on SAR should be clearly maintained.
IMO Member States overwhelmingly agree. When the Maritime Safety Committee discussed the reform proposals on 30
November, no-one supported the idea of dealing with SAR separately and biennially, and many States spoke against it.
The IMO Secretariat will now revise its plan; and the Committee will consider it again when it next meets in June.
The question of workload remains. The IMRF has suggested to the Committee that the SAR working group jointly run by
the IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) must be preserved. The link it provides with ICAO is very
important, for ICAO and IMO are jointly responsible for the IAMSAR Manual upon which the global SAR system is based;
and the group has proved itself highly effective: it can provide real support to the new Sub-Committee.
The debate continues! And the IMRF will continue to play its part in it. It’s essential to lifesaving that we should.
LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE DDeecceemmbbeerr 22001122
www.international-maritime-rescue.org page 2
Editorial
Welcome to the December edition of your newsletter: a
pretty full edition, as the Contents list shows.
And yet there is much more to tell you about – look out
for our February edition, which, among much else, will
include articles on our Rescue Boat Guidelines and
Education projects; this year’s bravery awards
presented by the Association for Rescue at Sea; and a
number of developments at the International Maritime
Organization, including the IMO’s ongoing reviews of
the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, and of
passenger ship safety after the Costa Concordia
disaster. I’m sorry we couldn’t fit all this into this edition
– but at least we can promise you things to look forward
to in the New Year!
Please do not just sit back and wait for February’s LIFE
LINE, though. If you have a story to tell your
international SAR colleagues, then let us have it. We
can publish it in LIFE LINE and on our websites too: see
the article on page 11. And remember: a picture is worth
a thousand words, so let’s have your photos as well...
Back to this edition. I hope we have something for
everyone. As usual there is SAR news from around the
world, including IMRF activities in South America,
Europe and North Africa. There are our usual columns,
too: ‘SAR Matters’, and the new one, ‘Member Focus’.
Please feel free to contribute to these. ‘SAR Matters’ is
a discussion column – in this edition it considers how
distress alerting might be improved, particularly in the
developing world. Is there something you would like to
discuss? Or would you like to contribute to one of our
past discussion threads? Well; you’re welcome!
‘Member Focus’ is part of the IMRF’s sharing of
information. Learning a little about your colleagues’
problems and how they seek to overcome them can be
a help when you look at your own. These are duplex
communications, though! If your organisation hasn’t
figured in ‘Member Focus’ yet, you know what to do!
On page 1 of this edition we highlight too the re-
structuring process under way at the IMO. The IMRF
has consultative status at the IMO: we represent the
world’s maritime SAR organisations (our Members)
there. As the initial reform proposals seemed to ‘down-
grade’ SAR a little, perhaps under the impression that
SAR is all sorted out – an impression which the IMRF
would argue is an erroneous one! – we will be playing a
full part in the debate, on your behalf.
So: lots to read about and contribute
to. I hope you enjoy doing so.
And let me close by wishing you all
the very best for the New Year.
Dave Jardine-Smith
Contents
The Future of SAR at the IMO ................... 1
Editorial ................................. 2
Dates for the Diary ................................. 2
News from the South Pacific ................... 3
Be a Blue Water Survivor ................... 3
ADES, Uruguay ................................. 4
Latin-American Marine Rescue Meeting .... 4
Marine Rescue New South Wales .... 5
SAR Matters ................................. 6
European Regional Development Meeting .... 7
News from Morocco ................................. 7
IMO Awards for Exceptional Bravery .... 8
News from China ................................. 8
From Fax to Facebook ................................. 9
An OSC SAR vessel ................................. 10
Miracle on the Yangtze ................................. 10
SAR Europe ................................. 11
IMRF Web News ................................. 11
SAR and the Weather ................................. 11
Mass Rescue ................................. 11
The Ultimate Float Test ................................. 12
Honours for our Patron ................................. 12
Send us your news & pictures ................... 12
Dates for the Diary
COMSAR 17 21-25 January 2013
The 17th session of the IMO’s Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue Sub-Committee. For details, please contact [email protected]
IQPC’s SAR Europe 19-21 March 2013
A major SAR conference in Portsmouth, England, preceded by a mass rescue operations focus day run in association with the IMRF. For details, see page 11 and www.searchandrescueeurope.com
Exercise Black Swan 1-5 April 2013
A major live mass rescue operations exercise coordinated by the United States Coast Guard. More details in due course.
World Maritime Rescue Congress 1-4 June 2015
Advance notice of the IMRF’s next Congress and quadrennial general meeting. Further details in due course.
If you have a SAR event of international interest which you would like to see listed here, please send the details to:
LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE DDeecceemmbbeerr 22001122
www.international-maritime-rescue.org page 3
Rhapsody of the Seas docks in Port
Moresby, Papua New Guinea
The Secretariat of the Pacific
Community (www.spc.int) publish a
newsletter, Pacific Maritime Watch,
which makes very interesting reading.
A recent edition addressed the
problem of increasing cruise traffic, in
ever larger ships. Avnita Goundar of
the SPC writes:
“While Pacific Island governments
clearly benefit from the cruise industry
as millions of dollars get injected into
national economies, a trend that is
worrying authorities is an increase in
the size of ships that are calling at
small Pacific Island ports. Bigger ships
come with bigger risks.
“The Pacific is one of the top ten
destinations for cruise ship
passengers. New Caledonia, Vanuatu,
Fiji and French Polynesia are popular
destinations. Samoa, American
Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and
Papua New Guinea have also
experienced a surge in cruise ship
visits.
“Pacific Island countries have SAR
plans that guide them in the event of a
maritime disaster. But for a disaster
on the scale of Costa Concordia,
these plans may not work.
“Saving lives at sea can be a costly
mission for SAR authorities, especially
those in the Pacific Islands, where
remoteness is often a major factor.
“With the increase in the number of
big cruise ship visits to the region,
SAR authorities now have to be
prepared for potential mass rescue
operations that may exceed their
capacity. Yet, with the exception of
New Caledonia, none of the Pacific
Island countries has a mass rescue
operation plan in place.
“SPC is helping PICTs to take stock of
this growing industry and is supporting
the development of appropriate
disaster response plans.”
News from the South Pacific
An Action Plan to address concerns
about the safety of domestic ferries
in the Pacific Island Countries and
Territories (PICTs) has been
adopted by a forum on the subject,
organised by the IMO and held in
Suva, Fiji, 30 October to 2
November.
Recent losses of domestic ferries
worldwide, including the sinking of
the Rabaul Queen in Papua New
Guinea in February 2012, have
increased awareness of the need for
a more holistic approach to domestic
ferry safety. The Pacific Forum
provided an opportunity for PICTs,
development partners, organisations
such as Interferry (who, like the
IMRF, hold consultative status at the
IMO) and the maritime industry as a
whole, to collaborate. The intention
now is to develop regional support to
address specific national solutions.
The Pacific Forum focused on safety
programmes, ship-specific concerns,
leg is la t ive, regulatory and
compl iance mat ters , seafarer
training and certification, operational
issues, safety awareness, and SAR.
The goal was to identify outcomes
that can be put into practice by
national Maritime Administrations
and the maritime industry, resulting
in safer ferry operations throughout
the region.
Through the Action Plan, participants
in the Forum hope to sensitise the
authorities in the region to the need
for urgent measures to be taken to
address their core concerns.
The Pacific Forum followed a
successful Regional Forum on
Domestic Ferry Safety held in Bali in
December 2011. It was organized by
the Secretariat of the Pacific
Community and the IMO under its
Integrated Technical Cooperation
Programme, and was attended by 45
participants: administrators and
pol icy makers, sh ipowners,
operators and maritime training
institutions. Fifteen countries from
the Pacific Islands region were
represented.
Be a Blue Water Survivor
We are grateful to SPC for permission to
quote from another article in Pacific
Maritime Watch.
Richard Roberts and Mark Morin of
the United States Coast Guard were
speaking at a forum in Majuro, in the
Marshall Islands, as part of continued
efforts to improve SAR response and
communications in the region. Their
main point was that those heading out
into ‘blue water’ have to be prepared.
“You’ve got to think of all the
contingencies,” Roberts said: “What’s
the most important safety device on a
boat?”
“A radio,” came one answer. “A cell
phone,” came another. But the best
piece of equipment of all for islanders
is, according to Roberts, a PFD (a
personal flotation device such as a
lifejacket).
If it can be afforded, the next most
important piece of equipment is an
EPIRB. The Coast Guard’s work
would be a lot easier if every boat
heading out to sea had a properly
registered EPIRB aboard, improving
distress alerting, and taking the
‘search’ out of SAR.
The two men stressed the amount of
time it takes to get a USCG C-130 to
the Marshalls from Hawaii to conduct
a search. “We have four C-130s for
SAR,” Morin said. “This plane takes
about 8 hours to fly to Majuro, but by
the time the request comes in and the
case is briefed, it may take much
longer. The crew will also need to rest
for 10 hours after arrival before they
can fly again.”
Once a boat is known to be missing,
there needs to be a dedicated local
search and detective work done. It
helps the USCG if it is provided with
as much information about the missing
boat and its crew as possible.
“And whatever you do,” said Cdr
Morin, “Don’t leave the boat. If the
boat sinks, don’t leave the debris. Find
something to hang on to, like a cooler
or the gas tank.
“I’ll say it again: don’t leave the boat!”
LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE DDeecceemmbbeerr 22001122
www.international-maritime-rescue.org page 4
Responding to several tragedies in
Uruguayan waters which occurred
during the years 1954 and 1955, a
group of citizens decided to found a
voluntary rescue institution to provide
cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
with equipment and trained crews
suited to the task. The main aim was to
respond to calls for help in the shortest
possible time.
The new organisation’s structure was
modelled on the world’s first maritime
lifesaving institution, the Royal National
Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in the British
Isles. The relationship between ADES
and the RNLI has remained a
permanent and important one, based
on friendship and reciprocity.
With the support of important figures in
Uruguayan national life, in an act of
affirmation and in a truly humanitarian
spirit, the Honorary Association for
Maritime and River Rescue was
founded on July 23, 1955.
In May 1956 ADES obtained legal
status and a year later, using funds
from corporate donations and a public
collection, the association purchased
its first rescue unit, the ADES 1.
Since that time there has been
continuous renewal of the fleet with
more modern vessels equipped with
the latest rescue technology. ADES
has grown and developed
appropriately, and currently has five
bases which, together, provide all-
weather rescue boat cover along
the national waterfront.
For further information please visit
www.ades.org.uy and/or www.facebook.com/ADES.UY
2nd Latin-American Marine Rescue
Meeting
IMRF Trustees and project managers
were present at a meeting of Latin-
Amer ican SAR organisat ions
organised by ADES in Montevideo,
Uruguay, 30 October to 3 November.
(See the South America meetings
page on the IMRF website.)
Attendees discussed fundraising for
SAR, and water safety education
programmes, designed to remove the
need for SAR by preventing the
acc ident in the f i rs t p lace .
International experience was shared
in presentations and round-table
discussions.
The recumbent fishwife above is our
Membership Secretary, Ann Laing, as
Rory, one of the characters in Scotland’s
Maritime Rescue Institute’s children’s
water safety education programme
The meeting also discussed mass
rescue operations (MRO) in some
depth, with presentations from a
number of different response
organisations, and a discursive
tabletop exercise led by the IMRF’s
MRO project manager, David Jardine-
Smith.
The Latin-American meeting ended
with a nautical exercise and a visit to
the ADES rescue boat station at
Punta del Este.
Member Focus: ADES
Asociación Honoraria de Salvamentos Marítimos y Fluviales
Sometimes the sea strikes at the
rescuers too. A severe storm struck
Montevideo on 19 September 2012:
ADES 16’s mooring broke and she
was blown ashore on the Rambla,
the major avenue that runs along the
city’s foreshore.
Although severe damage was
done to her propellers, her
strength preserved her and
she was recovered by crane.
This operation caused major
traffic jams on the Rambla –
and ADES used a TV ad to
thank everyone involved!
Repairs have been promised
free of charge.
LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE DDeecceemmbbeerr 22001122
www.international-maritime-rescue.org page 5
Member Focus: Marine Rescue
New South Wales
Stacey Tannos, Commissioner, Marine Rescue NSW, writes:
Marine Rescue New South Wales is
the newest emergency service
operating in the oldest and most
populous state in Australia,
providing a vital safety net for our
large boating community.
As an island nation, Australia’s
location, geography and predominantly coastal settlement
make shipping trade an essential contributor to our
economy and recreational boating a popular pastime. In
NSW alone there are more than 221,000 registered
recreational boats, with this number predicted to reach up
to 350,000 over the next decade and a half.
Marine Rescue NSW (see www.marinerescuensw.com.au)
has more than 3100 volunteer members, based in 45 units
along the State’s 2,137 kilometre coastline. New units are
also planned for inland waterways.
Our volunteers provide an emergency SAR response,
monitor marine radio communications and promote boating
safety through a range of education courses and activities.
Boaters are encouraged to contact their nearest Marine
Rescue unit to ‘Log On’ by marine radio or phone when
they are heading out on the water and to ‘Log Off’ when
they return. This means that a search can be swiftly
mounted if they are overdue and cannot be contacted.
In 2011/2012, our volunteers were tasked by the State’s
water police authorities to respond to 459 emergency
incidents. They also assisted in another 1,766 other
incidents, logged more than 220,000 radio calls, logged on
more than 49,000 boaters and tracked almost 7,000
vessels travelling between ports along the coastline.
While we rely heavily on State Government funding
support, we are not a Government agency but an
independent community-focused organisation established
as a company limited by guarantee. The organisation is
governed by a nine-member Board of Directors elected by
the members: six by volunteers in each of our operational
regions and three by the overall membership. The
Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner are supported by
a small HQ staff focused on operations, vessels, training,
IT, communications, administration and volunteer support.
The organisation was established in July 2009 and officially
began operations on New Year’s Day 2010, backed by our
volunteers’ decades of experience and skill. MRNSW
brings together members from three former marine rescue
organisations that had long served the NSW community
with distinction: the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard
Association, Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol, and Volunteer
Rescue Association’s marine fleet.
While these organisations had co-existed for many years, a
wide - rang ing rev iew commiss ioned by the NSW
Government concluded that membership cost, operations
and training, as well as vessel and equipment
replacement, was overtaking the organisations’ ability to
recruit and adequately fund-raise. In order to meet the
challenges of ballooning costs and of volunteer
recruitment and retention, the report recommended the
establishment of a single marine rescue service and
additional funding to assist with its establishment.
The Government agreed to provide seed funding of $3
million, an annual grant and an ongoing funding stream
through the introduction of a levy on each recreational
boat licence and registration, to be channelled directly to
MRNSW. A new name, uniform and livery helped create
the new face of marine rescue in this State.
Alongside our operational duties, the organisation’s first
three years have been marked by the start-up phase
challenges of amalgamating the three predecessor
services’ assets and members, introducing new and
upgraded vessels, equipment and training, and
developing a new suite of corporate governance
instruments, policies and operating and administrative
procedures. This work has gone hand-in-hand with efforts
to foster a forward-looking, positive organisational culture.
A Government funding advance has assisted with the
modernisation of our fleet of 73 rescue vessels, providing
up-to-date, safe and reliable equipment. In the past year
14 new and refurbished rescue vessels have been
delivered, at a total cost of $2.5 million. Older vessels are
being phased out in favour of new, smaller, more
manoeuvrable and versatile vessels designed to operate
in local coastal conditions. The new vessels are fitted with
state-of-the-art navigation, electronics, communication,
night vision and first aid equipment, including lifesaving
automatic defibrillators and oxygen therapy.
The process of creating a new entity by drawing on the
strengths of three separate services has highlighted the
difficulties of generational and structural change but also
the rewards that can be gained from a group of people
committed to a common purpose. The tireless work,
commitment to public service and marine skill and
experience of our volunteers is the base on which this
strong organisation has been built to provide a world-
class rescue service. And this is an achievement of which
everyone who has played a role in this fledgling service
can be justifiably proud.
LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE DDeecceemmbbeerr 22001122
www.international-maritime-rescue.org page 6
SAR Matters This column provides a forum for LIFE LINE readers
worldwide to contribute to debate on any relevant SAR
issue. You can join in, or propose new items for discussion,
by emailing [email protected].
Or you can join the discussion on our SAR Matters Blog,
online at www.international-maritime-rescue.org.
Have a look at previous discussions on the website too, in
the LIFE LINE archive.
In this edition we look at alerting methods, and ask in
particular how accident alerting can be improved in the
developing world.
Do you remember all the items in the list of internationally-
recognised maritime distress signals? The spoken word
‘Mayday’ by radio, of course; signals transmitted by EPIRBs
(emergency position-indicating radio beacons); and “slowly
and repeatedly raising and lowering the arms outstretched
to each side”. There’s ‘SOS’ by Morse, and there are SAR
transponders – and then there are the rather more obscure
ones: “a signal consisting of a square flag having above or
below it a ball or anything resembling a ball”, for example;
and “flames on the vessel (as from a burning tar barrel...)”.
Also in the list are the pyrotechnics – parachute flares,
handheld flares, orange smokes. Red flares, at least, are
very well-known visual distress signals; which is more than
can be said for some of the others! The trouble with flares,
however, is that they are expensive to buy; they have a
limited ‘shelf life’ – and they are potentially dangerous,
which creates difficulties of transportation, storage and use.
Also (and in common with all other visual signals) they
need reasonably good visibility in order to be seen, and
they also need an observer looking the right way...
Two questions. Should we really still be relying on fireworks
(and inherently dangerous fireworks at that) to raise the
alarm in the 21st century? And even if we should, are these
distress signals – and others in the internationally-
recognised list – really the best we can do for the people at
sea who need them most; artisanal fishermen, for example,
in the developing world? It is among such groups, after all,
that the appalling annual drowning figures which the IMRF
is seeking to address are at their worst.
The best way to save life at sea is to minimise the risk to it.
A seaworthy vessel, good equipment, and training and
experience are ‘life-savers’. The IMRF supports every effort
to prevent accidents happening at sea and to better equip
seafarers of all kinds so that, faced with an emergency,
they can deal with it without needing outside help.
But sometimes, of course, such help is needed. That is why
IMRF Members do SAR. However, to get help, you have to
be able to let people know that you need it.
If you can afford radios, satellite communications, beacons
or transponders as envisaged in the Global Maritime
Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), that’s fine. Visual
distress signals still have
their place, if only to assist
SAR units in the final stages
of location. But what if you
can’t afford such things?
As an example, let ’s take
the South Pacific. “Low
cost , ava i lab i l i t y and
usability are key out here,”
says Bruce Tweed of the
Secretariat of the Pacific
Community, “Especially with
local ferries, most of which are small wooden vessels
(15m and under) operated by island councils and
churches to meet a specific demand. A few years back,
for example, an organization designed a compact sail rig
for subsistence fishing vessels to carry as alternate
propulsion, but as it was superfluous equipment that took
up space, it wasn’t carried for long.”
That’s understandable. When you’re at subsistence level
you can’t afford ‘luxuries’ like marine radios, or flares (or
modern variants such as ‘laser flares’).
“Alternatives such as radar reflectors (using cans &
sticks), reflectors (old CDs), and even large brightly
coloured cloth are promoted,” says Bruce, “Along with trip
reporting: reliable, consistent trip reporting and universal
carriage, and registration, of EPIRBs would greatly
improve the response to emergencies.” The expense of
providing EPIRBs is an obvious challenge, as are the
technical issues of approval and certification.
Another way forward – and one which will require a good
deal of careful thought and some technical development –
is to stop thinking about emergency alerting as a stand-
alone communications issue. Instead, we should think
about adapting communications systems already being
used for non-emergency purposes.
Cellphones, or mobiles, have spread around the world
like wildfire. They have become common in many places
which never had landline systems. They are often to be
found in the pockets of people who cannot afford to
purchase marine radios, or beacons, or flares – because
they are of day-to-day use to their owner.
Can we not build on that utility? Current cellphones are
not usually designed for marine use, and coverage out at
sea may be poor or (especially further from land) non-
existent. But the first issue can be addressed, even if only
with a plastic bag; and many phones are already using
satellite signals; for position-fixing, for example. Distress
alerting by satellite – using the phone as an EPIRB – is at
least possible. And if a fisherman uses a cellphone
ashore, he will use one at sea.
Preventing accidents is obviously important. So is
effective search and rescue. But we also need to ensure
that, if help is needed, it can be called for effectively and
efficiently – and by as many seafarers as possible, not
just those who can afford the ‘luxuries’.
LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE DDeecceemmbbeerr 22001122
www.international-maritime-rescue.org page 7
income streams, including
support ‘in kind’, should be
identified, and we should look at
increasing productivity.
Staff should be encouraged to
be more cost-minded and
business-focussed, without
losing the SAR ‘culture’.
Knowledge exchange with other
IMRF Members should be
increased, and business plans
and strategies reviewed to
ensure that activity is aligned.
Specialist knowledge and skills
may be available within the
volunteer workforce.
The meeting also made
recommendations for the
IMRF. The European Crew
Exchange Project should be
continued, and the Education
and Prevention Project
advanced with urgency. The
IMRF should facilitate a
seminar focussing solely on
fundrais ing. The IMO’s
possible downgrading of its
consideration of SAR (see page
1) would provide opportunities for
the IMRF, which should
strengthen its branding
accordingly. The Rescue Boat
Guidelines will help make our
presence felt: the project
progresses and the results will
be of use to all. Finally, there are
cost savings to be made through
knowledge exchange and the
sharing of information.
Presentations given on the
recent Crew Exchange Project
and the successful VOMARE
and VOBASE projects in the
Eastern Baltic are well worth
reviewing. The exchange has
proved a great success, with
planning underway to run again
in 2013. And the Baltic projects
are an excellent case study in
collaboration between developed
and developing countries.
A full summary of the meeting
and copies of the presentations
can be viewed in the Members’
area of the IMRF website:
www.international-maritime-
rescue.org
European Regional Development
Meeting
In October representatives of
maritime SAR organisations from
the European region converged on
Iceland to participate in the biennial
ICESAR Rescue Conference,
which coincided this year with the
IMRF’s Regional Development
Meeting. The Rescue Conference
was a great success, with almost
600 people attending. The next,
on 17-19 October 2014, should be
in everyone’s diary.
The annual IMRF Regional
Meeting was hosted by ICESAR on
the training vessel Sæbjörg. The
meeting, chaired by Remmi
Pedersen, was a combination of
workshops and presentations. The
group used the workshop time to
review the challenges they face in
the current economic climate; what
Members are doing in response;
and what the IMRF can do to help.
Most Members reported that
support remains good, despite the
signs of a tightening economy.
Decision-making for commercial
sponsorship is slower, and
amounts are reduced in many
cases. There has been some
reduction in support from individual
volunteers and donors too, and
funding for capital projects is
becoming more difficult to find. On
the other hand, government
reductions are causing some
increase in demand for voluntary
organisations.
In response to the economic crisis,
targeted and better-researched
requests for support and
sponsorship need to be made to
potential commercial and private
supporters. New and alternative
News from Morocco
A very successful live SAR exercise, ‘RIF
2012’, was held in M’diq in Morocco in early
October. The international event was
organised by IMRF’s regional coordinator,
Mohammed Drissi, and was observed by
delegates from Guinea-Bissau, Senegal,
The Gambia, Mauretania, and Cape Verde.
The international delegates also attended a
northwest African regional SAR committee
meeting to discuss work to improve SAR
provision in their respective countries.
Moroccan emergency responders and the crew of
a Spanish rescue vessel land a casualty (above);
and the international observers watch the
exercise (below)
IMRF Trustee Hamish McDonald and
Secretary David Jardine-Smith were among
the speakers at a seminar which preceded
the exercise. Hamish spoke on the need for
the provision of regionally relevant and
sustainable operational support and training
programmes, and David gave a briefing on
the IMRF’s mass rescue operations project.
The regional SAR Committee elected
Mohammed Drissi as its chairman for the
next two years, and agreed to develop a
work plan identifying the different issues to
be considered in order to complete the
Regional SAR Plan.
With the collaboration and support of the
IMRF and the IMO, two training sessions on
SAR management and coordination will take
place in Agadir early in 2013, with relevant
personnel attending from each of the
countries in the northwest African region.
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IMO Awards for Exceptional Bravery
On 26 November, at a ceremony in the IMO Headquarters in London,
the 2012 Awards for Exceptional Bravery at Sea were presented to
rescue crews from Canada and Chile.
The Canadian rescue was reported in the December 2011 edition of
LIFE LINE. SAR Technicians Sergeant Janick Gilbert, Master
Corporal Max Lahaye-Lemay and Master Corporal Marco
Journeyman of the Royal Canadian Air Force were nominated for
saving the lives of two Inuit hunters in October 2011, during an
operation lasting five hours. The hunters were stranded in an open
boat in icy waters near Igloolik, Nunavut, in freezing temperatures,
strong winds and heavy
swells.
Sgt Gilbert died during
the rescue. Together
with his colleagues, his
widow and his mother
accepted his award, to a
standing ovation in the
IMO’s packed plenary
hall.
César Flores Flores, of the Chilean Navy aerial detachment at Puerto
Montt, received his award for his role as rescue swimmer in the
rescue of the crew of the launch Rosita V, aground and washed by
breaking seas at Locos Islet, in extremely dangerous conditions.
Able Seaman Flores rescued seven survivors, injured and suffering
from hypothermia. As he began raising the
last one to the helicopter, a wave caused the
vessel to lurch and the winch cable became
entangled with the HF antenna and the signal
mast, endangering both the swimmer and the
aircraft. But Flores was able to disentangle
the cable and bring the last survivor up safely.
In his acceptance speech he modestly
stressed that he was only part of a much
wider SAR team.
Among other nominees to be honoured were Attie Gunter, Leon
Pretorius and Quentin Diener of South Africa’s National Sea Rescue
Institute (seen below at the IMO with, right, IMRF Chairman Michael Vlasto
and NSRI’s Rob Wilson). The
crew of the 5.5m RIB Queenie
Paine received Certificates of
Commendation for their rescue
of the four crew of the yacht
Gulliver in gale force conditions
and darkness in June 2011.
The rescue was reported in our
August 2011 edition.
The IMO are now seeking
nominations for the 2013
Awards. Rescues taking place
between 1 March 2012 and 28 February 2013 will be considered.
Nominations must reach the IMO by 15 April 2013. If you would like
more details, please contact David Jardine-Smith of the IMRF
Secretariat: [email protected].
News from China
The IMRF had the pleasure of nominating two
officers of China Rescue and Salvage for the
IMO Bravery Awards. Both are pilots in the
Rescue Flying Service of the Chinese Ministry
of Transport, and both received Letters of
Commendation from the IMO.
Captain Yang Junxing is a helicopter pilot of
considerable experience: he is also an
instructor. At 0500 on 4 December 2011, he
was informed that a container ship, the
Jinshanling, from Zhejiang Province, had sunk
in the Pingtan sea area of Fujian Province.
There were 22 crew aboard.
Capt Yang decided to take helicopter B-7106
from Fuzhou base and ordered helicopter B-
7310, based in Xiamen, to be ready to assist.
When flying conditions allowed, B-7106 left
Fuzhou for the distress scene. While B-7106
was on the way, B-7310 also took off.
On scene, the crews found Force 7 winds and
3 metre waves, with containers floating on the
sea. After a careful search, the crew of B-7106
crew found a drowning seaman. Capt Yang
skilfully positioned the helicopter, while
winchman Zhu Qiangsong got ready to deploy
rescue swimmer Ren Jie.
Lowered to the sea surface, Ren Jie grasped
the man and he was winched aboard. After B-
7310 had also arrived, the two helicopters,
working together, successfully rescued
another two distressed crewmen.
Captain Yu Dongshi is another very
experienced rescue helicopter pilot, with 63
lives saved to his credit. On 11 March 2011 his
helicopter was called to the assistance of three
crewmen from the vessel Yin Zhi, who had
suffered serious carbon monoxide poisoning.
An hour’s flight from Gaodong, rescue
helicopter B-7328 found the weather
conditions on scene very bad, with high winds
and heavy seas making hovering very difficult.
However, Capt Yu was able to maintain
position while his crew conducted five lifts –
the three injured men and two escorts.
B-7328 landed its passengers at Gaodong,
where they were rushed to hospital. We are
happy to report that all three poisoned men
survived.
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From Fax to Facebook
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Tony Roddam writes
about how the RNLI is embracing multimedia.
The social media revolution is challenging organisations
worldwide. For SAR organisations it is arguably a force for
good, transforming how we work and opening a vivid
window into our world. But it is not without complexities.
SAR organisations have to cope with the human, legal,
and ethical challenges of operations becoming more
visible, as social media and video are used to record,
discuss and sometimes judge our actions.
But at the same time social media are finding a key role in
humanitarian activity: I was fascinated to hear at the
Rescue 2012 conference in Reykjavik how the Red Cross
and ICE-SAR are using Facebook and text messaging to
gauge the severity of incidents or warn people of danger.
This revolution has also thrown up innovative ways to
showcase what SAR organisations do. For a charity such
as the RNLI, relying on the generosity of the public, this is
vital. But turning the public relations potential of social
media into a useful reality has been far from simple.
The RNLI is 95% a volunteer organisation. Like many
organisations pondering this revolution, the initial
response was ‘How do we control this?’ But no-one can
‘control’ social media. Nor can the clock be wound back:
the revolution’s here to stay. Better to embrace it and
make it work for you.
This realisation necessitated a sea-change in thinking at
all levels of the RNLI. Five years ago it started to become
clear that many of our volunteers were privately
embracing the freedom of new media, and talking openly
about the RNLI – mostly in ways we wanted but
occasionally not. And the world could suddenly see and
hear them talking. After much internal debate we
concluded that we had to start thinking in terms of guiding
our volunteers on how best to represent the RNLI. We
saw the new social media as a force for good.
This ‘light-touch’ approach became a key element of our
projects to equip all 236 lifeboat stations with video
cameras, as well as training volunteer press officers to
use our online News Centre (www.rnli.org/press). This
collects news stories, photos and videos from our crews
and makes them freely available to the news media and
the public. Our volunteers now produce around 4,000
news releases a year, and hundreds of photos and
videos, and they run thriving, informative and entertaining
Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and websites.
This liberal approach raised a few eyebrows from visiting
SAR organisations keen to explore how we manage the
process. Some are astonished that we simply let
volunteers post stories, branded with the RNLI’s logo,
direct to the web. But, given that we trust our volunteers to
launch expensive lifeboats into violent seas and take
responsibility for people’s lives, encouraging them to
operate online doesn’t seem too daring.
That is not to say we take this freedom lightly. The RNLI
must preserve its hard-won reputation and that message is
reinforced in training across the charity. We were aware
from the start that video could be of huge benefit but also
that it could be very risky if it showed us in a bad light.
In my view video and photos are the ‘killer apps’ for SAR
organisations, particularly when combined with dedicated
social media channels. Our business has everything a
journalist or the public could wish for – action, human
interest, technology, heroism, and, regrettably, tragedy.
We can bring SAR to life this way. By the end of 2013 all
RNLI lifeboat stations will be equipped with video
cameras; but this has not been straightforward.
There were few suitable ‘off-the-shelf’ cameras when we
started and our engineering team worked hard to
overcome the unholy mix of seawater and delicate digital
technology. The human side proved equally challenging.
One lifeboatman was adamant the camera fitted to his
lifeboat was transmitting secretly to HQ! But most crews
are now using cameras with enthusiasm.
And there have been valuable operational benefits too.
The cameras have been used to great effect in low-light
searches, and crews are increasingly contributing video of
their own mistakes, during exercises, for example, so that
our training department can educate newcomers and help
protect the lifeboat crews and lifeguards of the future.
We learned quickly that video alone was not enough – the
public and media need the wider story. So we reshaped
the training programme for our volunteer press officers.
We recognised the need for consistency across the RNLI,
and developed three key documents: Loud and Clear, a
factsheet issued every year; the Media Skills Handbook;
and our Guide to Social Media, which offers friendly
guidance on the benefits and risks of social media.
We train our volunteers to think about showing the world
what the RNLI does well – not showing people in distress,
or suffering, or in humiliating situations. We emphasise
courtesy, respect and dialogue: the keys to safe navigation
through the choppy waters of social media.
The results have been promising: the news media are
hungry for our pictures and our social media channels are
busy. The reward is a high level of awareness amongst
the British and Irish public. It has not been plain sailing
and it might be reassuring to hear that we are feeling our
way: sharing that learning will help us all. As revolutions
go, however, this one can be good for SAR.
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wheelhouse. The modified Sea Axe
Bow – a successful design by Lex
Keuning from Delft University of
Technology – cuts through waves,
reducing vertical g-forces by 45%
and enabling top speeds of over 30
knots, while radically transforming
seaworthiness. In addition, retract-
able rear fins can be lowered for
more course stability, or raised to
give extra manoeuvrability.
In the wheelhouse, state-of-the-art
and fully-integrated electronics
permit real-time data exchange for
ship-to-shore communications (an
earlier version of this Ship
Information and Management
System is already proven by the
RNLI in the UK). Crew working
conditions have been considerably
enhanced by not only limiting the
“slamming” motion of the vessel, but
also by a host of ergonomic features,
such as spec ia l i sed cha i rs ,
c l imate control, improved visibility
and reduced vibration and noise
levels.
The vessel’s dimensions are
generous, giving extra space not
on ly on deck, where 125 people
can be accommodated, but also in
the engine room. This gives staff
bet ter access to machinery,
improving maintenance conditions
and effectiveness.
The launch of the first NH 1816
Class vessel is scheduled for the
third quarter of 2013. Following sea
trials, the KNRM will be offering NH
1816 Class lifeboats to other SAR
and coastguard services. They will
be constructed by Damen Shipyards
and its affiliates.
Find more information, film and
contacts on www.knrm.com.
An ‘OSC SAR vessel’
KNRM’s new lifeboat
The Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue
Institution – KNRM – enjoys a
reputation for excellence in maritime
search and rescue. It operates in one
of the world’s busiest locations, the
North Sea; and to be able to cover all
the emergency situations that arise
within its area of operations the
KNRM has a dense coastal coverage
of 44 lifeboat stations, all equipped
with fast, all-weather, self-righting
lifeboats.
The Institution’s response time and
service performance (average time to
rescue location) is one of the highest
in the world, and is achieved at a
relatively low cost.
More improvements are on the way.
The KNRM has announced the next
generation of fast all-weather
lifeboats: the NH 1816 Class.
Working with some of the best Dutch
marine experts, the Institution has
created the concept of an advanced
“on-scene coordination search and
rescue vessel”.
Innovations in hull design, ergo-
nomics, communications and navi-
gation systems, will give the NH 1816
Class superior capabilities to any
conventional lifeboat, say the KNRM.
Speed, range, efficiency, sea-
worthiness and safety are all aspects
that have been funda-
mentally improved in this
design, not to mention
significant upgrades in
crew comfort and ease of
maintenance.
The NH 1816 (named
after its sponsor, De
Noordhollandsche 1816)
is a self-righting, fast and
seaworthy monohull, with
alloy hull and composite
Miracle on the Yangtze
You would be forgiven for thinking
‘Not again!’ – but the ditched
passenger aircraft above is not quite
what she seems to be...
China's first large-scale search and
rescue exercise involving a civil
aircraft was held on 26 September in
the mouth of the Yangtze River off
Shanghai.
The drill was a reconstruction of
United States Airways Flight 1549’s
ditching in the Hudson River in 2009,
with 155 people on board. Flight
1549 lost power in both engines as
a result of striking a flock of birds
shortly after taking off from La
Guardia Airport, New York. A major –
and successful – rescue operation
followed.
A full-size model was placed in the
Yangtze River estuary to simulate a
similar accident. 140 passengers and
10 crew members were on board.
More than 20 vessels took part in the
exercise, along with four helicopters
and a maritime patrol aircraft.
The exercise was organized by the
Ministry of Transport and the
Shanghai Municipal Government,
and included emergency response,
evacuation of the aircraft, self-
rescue, maritime search and rescue,
medical services, fire-fighting, traffic
control, on-scene cordoning and
aftermath treatment.
The rescue itself was a race against
time, as the aircraft would ‘sink’ after
45 to 60 minutes. Like its New York
original, the Shanghai drill was a
great success: the rescue was
completed inside 45 minutes!
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SAR Europe
The IMRF is supporting an
international SAR conference to be
held in Portsmouth, in the UK, on
19-21 March 2013: see www.sar-
europe.com/IMRF.
The conference will help answer the
international SAR community’s key
question of how to ensure that the
best lifesaving standards are
practiced while increasingly trying to
balance cost against required
capability.
This event will showcase the latest
operat ional exper iences and
pract ica l examples of SAR
techniques utilised across Europe. It
is also a unique opportunity to view
the latest technology and solutions
available to the SAR community.
Key presentations will include
Jonathan Heald, o f f icer
commanding the UK’s Aeronautical
Rescue Coordination Centre, on
European SAR cooperation and
integration; developing techniques
for maritime emergencies in and
around offshore wind farms and
renewable energy installations, by
Roly Mckie of the UK Coastguard;
and two o f the On Scene
Commanders from Oslo Police on
the 2011 Norwegian terrorist
attacks, sharing first-hand insight
into SAR activities on the day.
There will also be a ‘focus day’ led
by the IMRF on 19 March on
planning and improving mass
rescue operations.
Registrations are now open! For
more information about sessions
and the speaker line-up, visit the
website, download the brochure at
www.sar-europe.com / brochure,
email [email protected] or
phone +44 (0) 207 036 1300.
To register interest in attending the
event, please visit www.sar-
europe.com/reg.
IMRF Web News
Work continues on the IMRF website:
www.international-maritime-
rescue.org.
Bruce Reid and Wendy Webster of the
Secretariat have been working hard to
improve the look and user-friendliness
of the site, with a dynamic and exciting
selection of news and reports. Watch
out for new developments, including
project-specific pages!
Our sister site, run by the IMRF’s Asia
Pacific Regional Centre, is also a lively
place to visit. Have a look at
imrf.asia.com.
SAR and the weather
Antti Kokko is a master’s student
working in the Finnish Meteorological
Institute, doing research for the
Finnish Border Guard on SAR
operations caused by the weather.
Antti is investigating which weather
parameters cause most incidents; how
the quality of forecasts corresponds to
the amount of weather-related
accidents; the geographical and
temporal distributions, etc.
The final aim of this research is better
understanding of the effect of
hazardous weather on SAR in
Finland’s sea areas – but the research
will have general value too.
If you can help with statistics, please
contact Antti at [email protected].
Mass Rescue
The urgent need for further action to
prevent or respond to incidents at
sea involving large numbers of
people continues to be tragically
demonstrated.
The dreadful collision between the
Sea Smooth and the Lamma IV off
Hong Kong in October left 39 people
dead and 87 injured. Lamma IV’s
stern was torn open in the impact,
throwing scores of passengers into
the sea. The vessel's aft end flooded
within minutes, trapping passengers
in the submerged cabin.
The SAR response was rapid and
efficient – but what can be done for
people trapped in such horrific
circumstances? Prevention remains
key. But so does preparation, should
the worst happen.
The Singapore Maritime and Port
Authority conducted a live exercise,
FEREX Heron, in September. The
scenario involved a ferry colliding
with a tug: more than 350 personnel
from nine agencies participated.
Chief Executive Lam Yi Young said,
“FEREX Heron had three purposes –
to familiarise all parties in their roles
and responsibilities in the Ferry
Mishap Contingency Plan, in the
event of an accident during the
annual Kusu pilgrimage season; to
test agencies’ readiness in handling
mass casualty incidents; and to test
the involvement of our newly
upgraded Port Operations Control
Centre.”
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LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE
And finally...
We hope that you have found this issue of LIFE LINE informative and interesting. We know that there is
much more going on among IMRF’s membership that could be reported here, to the benefit of all – but we
rely on you, the reader, to tell us about it! LIFE LINE and the IMRF website need you to provide their
contents – your news, your projects, your events, your ideas, your lessons learned.
We also need your pictures, please: good quality pictures (more than 250 kB, if possible) of your SAR units
– boats, ships, aircraft, RCCs etc. These will be used in LIFE LINE and on the website – but are also needed
for presentations and to accompany press articles about the IMRF and its worldwide work.
Please send articles and pictures (or links to them, with formal permission for them to be used for IMRF
purposes) to [email protected].
Let’s spread the word, for the benefit of all at risk on the world’s waters.
Honours for our Patron
Efthimios Mitropoulos, who retired as Secretary-General
of the International Maritime Organization at the end of
2011, and graciously agreed to become the IMRF’s
Patron at that time, has received two important honours.
The IMO is based in London, and Her Majesty the Queen
has recognised our patron’s long and outstanding service
to international maritime safety, security and protection of
the marine environment by appointing him an Honorary
Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of
Saint Michael and Saint George.
And Admiral Mitropoulos has also been honoured by his
own. During a ceremony at the IMO’s headquarters by the
Thames on 27 November, he became the latest recipient
of the IMO’s prestigious International Maritime Prize.
He joins a select body of
recipients of the Prize – a
group which includes the
IMRF. Then the International
Lifeboat Federation, we were
very pleased to be awarded
the honour in 1998 (the only
Non-Governmental Organis-
ation to be awarded it to
date); so we are all the more
pleased to welcome our
Patron to the club!
The Ultimate Float Test
Testing the seaworthiness of your rescue boat is
important, of course – but you can overdo it...
In early October 2009, a
general SAR exercise was
hosted by ICE-SAR rescue
teams in Grundafjörður,
Iceland. The Suðurnes team
headed for the exercise in
their Arun class boat, deciding
to tow their Atlantic-class
rigid-hull inflatable instead of
transporting it by road.
About halfway, off Faxaflói
bay, the Arun took a breaking
sea and the coxswain hurt his
head. After his crew had fixed
him up they discovered that the tow had parted. A search
was mounted – but the RIB had vanished.
996 days later she was found, off Norway. The picture
above shows her being lifted from the sea (a testament to
the strength of her towing eye, incidentally). She looks as
you might expect her to look after all that time.
But the second picture shows
what she looked like after
she’d been hosed down. The
sponson and the self-righting
bag had gone (and the
engines wouldn’t start!) but
she was in extraordinarily
good condition otherwise – a
real credit to her builders.
We don’t recommend that you
go quite this far when testing
your own boat, though!