Baltic Sea MIRG Project 1
BALTIC SEA MIRG PROJECT (2014-2016) Baltic Sea Maritime Incident Response Group (Baltic Sea MIRG) project The project will create joint MIRG coordination models and standard operating procedures for the Baltic Sea region and support the harmonisation of MIRG services in Europe www.raja.fi/mirg
PROJECT PARTNERS Project has been open for all parties providing and developing MIRG services in Europe Partners in Finland: - Finnish Border Guard, - Helsinki City Rescue Department, - South-West Finland Emergency Services, - Finnish Transport Safety Agency - Meriturva (Maritime Safety Training Centre) Registered foreign partners from Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom Nordic MIRG forum partners from Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden,
Outcomes of the project The project reports (http://www.raja.fi/mirg) The project summary report will be published end of 2016
RISK ANALYSIS Ship fires pose the greatest threat to European maritime safety when the risk is loss of human life or serious injury. Fire poses the greatest threat aboard ro-ro passenger ships. http://niinidigi.kopioniini.fi/mirg_raportti/ 5
EXTERNAL HELP IN SHIP FIRES European Ship Fires Frequency Location External Help Used Vessel type Number of ship fires/explosions 2000-2015* At Sea Passenger Vessels / Cruise Ships 33 21 12 Ropax 99 84 15 Ro-ro 30 19 11 At Port Cargo 238 130 108 Fishing Vessels 40 28 12 Tanker 82 48 34 Support 41 25 16 Other 7 4 3 In how many incidents external help was used? At Sea 4 At Port 5 At Sea 16 At Port 7 At Sea 7 At Port 6 At Sea 33 At Port 50 At Sea 9 At Port 6 At Sea 10 At Port 17 At Sea 9 At Port 8 At Sea 0 At Port 2 Total 570 359 211 Total 189 External assistance has been used in 189 cases (33 % of reported ship fire cases), which 89 has been at sea and 100 at port. 6
SHIP FIRE ANALYSIS An analysis on the seven past ship fires in to develop MIRG services. 1) m/s Calypso (cruise ship), UK, 2006 2) m/v Lemo (cargo ship), Finland, 2008 3) m/s Commodore Clipper (ropax vessel), UK, 2010 4) m/s Pearl of Scandinavia (ropax vessel), Sweden, 2010 5) m/s Nordlys (ropax vessel), Norway, 2011 6) m/v Fernanda (ro-ro vessel), Iceland, 2013 7) m/v Purple Beach (cargo ship), Germany, 2015 http://niinidigi.kopioniini.fi/ Photo: Icelandic Coast Guard Rajavartiolaitos/ship_fire_incident_analysis/ 7
Key conclusions and recommendations 1. Each coastal nation should have the ability and readiness to dispatch a specially trained team to provide external help to support vessel crews in firefighting operations 2. The RCC and Fire and rescue services should have a joint operating model and co-operation agreement (or equivalent) for how to quickly deploy a MIRG expert/mirg Liaison Officer specialising in ship fires to the RCC 3. The co-ordination and command structure of external help used in ship fires should be clarified
Key conclusions and recommendations 4. Base locations, transport logistics and on-call arrangements of MIRG units and SAR helicopters should be developed as a whole 5. Joint ship fire drills between vessels and MIRG teams should be developed in co-operation with the responsible SAR authority 6. Redundancy in division of work related to emergencies on ships should be developed to withstand the absence of individual key persons
Shipping company survey Shipping companies expectations and thoughts with regard to external firefighting assistance and related joint operations in the case of a ship fire Total number of respondents: 17 companies Respondents: shipping companies operating scheduled passenger traffic in the Baltic Sea (incl. Ropax vessels), shipping companies operating scheduled passenger traffic in the English Channel (incl. Ropax vessels) and cruise ships operating in (Northern) Europe.
In the case of "smaller" fires, do you expect to receive external assistance and/or consultation on firefighting/fire control on your ship? 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Yes No Don't know
In the case of "challenging" fires, do you expect to receive external assistance and/or consultation on firefighting/fire control on your ship? 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Yes No Don't know
What do you primarily expect from external assistance providers? Only consultation/leadership support for firefighting/fire control 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Only firefighting assistance Both consultation/leadership support and firefighting/fire control assistance Neither 13
Do your vessels have uniform operating models for cooperation with external firefighting teams (MIRG/equivalent)? 0 2 4 6 8 10 Yes No Don't know
Yes No Don't know Could the joint operations guidelines for vessel crews and external firefighting teams be based on a generally accepted operating model (one that is not shipping company-specific) that has been drafted in cooperation with different parties? (2/4) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
BALTIC SEA MARITIME INCIDENT RESPONSE GROUP PROJECT
MIRG OOERATIONAL GUIDELINES The project developed the following operational guidelines: 1. Assessing the Safety Status of a Vessel (Vessel TRIAGE) 2. Requesting Assistance 3. Communications 4. Fire Liaison Officer 5. MIRG Operation Commander 6. Occupational Safety During a MIRG Operation 7. Distress Vessel 17
MIRG COMMAND STRUCTURE
Vessel TRIAGE Concept
A method for assessing and communicating the safety status of vessels in maritime distress situations
Shared Situational Awareness Shore Side Responders JRCC / MRCC Distress Vessel Shipping Company
Vessel TRIAGE categories: examples GREEN THE VESSEL IS SAFE AND CAN BE ASSUMED TO REMAIN SO 22
Vessel TRIAGE categories: examples YELLOW THE VESSEL IS CURRENTLY SAFE, BUT THERE IS A RISK THAT THE SITUATION WILL GET WORSE 23
Vessel TRIAGE categories: examples RED THE LEVEL OF SAFETY HAS SIGNIFICANTLY WORSENED AND EXTERNAL ACTIONS ARE REQUIRED TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE PEOPLE ABOARD 24
Vessel TRIAGE categories: examples BLACK THE VESSEL IS NO LONGER SAFE AND HAS BEEN LOST 25
No: Vessel TRIAGE is not the answer to life, the universe and everything. But it will help improve understanding. And that alone makes it worthwhile David Jardine-Smith IMRF secretary
NCSR3 concerns and comments to Vessel TRIAGE Valid for all accidental situations No additional workload to crew Benefit to communication should be confirmed SAR response decisions should not become Master responsibility No conflict with existing emergency assessment and communication methods Application should be consistent between individuals Communication procedures should be harmonized across multiple SAR regions Regulatory implications should be accounted for 27
IMO implementation process JWG 22 Sept 2015 NCSR 3 March 2016 JWG 23/24 2016/2017 MSC 98/99 2018/2019 IAMSAR 2019 Finnish Transport Safety Agency and Finnish Border Guard will submit the Vessel Triage initiative IMO approval: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Vessel TRIAGE METHOD has been presented to ICAO-IMO Joint Working Group with a proposal for testing and a long term goal to implement it in the IAMSAR Manual 2016 Vessel TRIAGE METHOD is submitted to NCSR 3. Proposed to be include to the IAMSAR Manual as long-term aim. Proposed and agreed to recommend further testing. 2017 Feedback Vessel TRIAGE tests will be submitted to NCSR 4 GOAL Vessel Triage method included to the IAMSAR 2019 edition. 28
Thank you! The Finnish Border Guard (HQ) SAR Unit Commander Petteri Leppänen email: petteri.leppanen@raja.fi 29