Lookout! – Issue 15
21 December 2009
Guidance notice – Issue 17:
Long-range identification and tracking (LRIT) equipment testing
21 December 2009
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MNZ’s Maritime Radio Service celebrates 15 years in operation.
Being in trouble at sea, many nautical miles from land with not a single vessel to be seen on the horizon is the stuff of dread for seafarers. However, it is a reality many have experienced. For those in distress, a calm voice over the airwaves from the Maritime Radio Service provides the reassuring sound that lets them know they are not alone.
Over 35,000 people have been assisted by the
MNZ-funded
Maritime Radio Service, which celebrated
its 15th birthday recently.
Maritime New Zealand’s (MNZ) Maritime Radio Service marked its 15th birthday in July. While the service began in October 1993, its official start date was 1 July 1994. Since then, tens of thousands of people in trouble at sea have been helped by the service.
The statistics tell part of the story. In the 15-year period, 1,213 distress or mayday calls were made to the service. A further 9,651 emergency calls and 648 calls for medical assistance were received.
This equates to over 35,000 people in need of help, and provides testimony to the number of lives in peril. And these figures do not include the thousands who check weather forecasts on the radio, and the many navigational warnings issued by the service each day to enable seafarers to
navigate safely.
On 30 June 2009, a beacon alert detected by the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) was the first signal about trouble experienced by the yacht Carenza, en route from Tonga to Auckland. It was followed by a call to RCCNZ from the yacht’s satellite phone, but with time running out on the phone’s prepaid card, maritime radio provided the essential link between the anxious family and rescue services on land.
While the beacon alert allowed RCCNZ to locate where the stricken vessel was, a three-way conversation between the New Zealand-based Maritime Radio Service, Australia’s Hobart Radio, and the skipper of the Carenza provided RCCNZ with the rest of the information they needed – the yacht had lost its mast, rendering it immobile, and there were two adults and six children on board.
“For the sake of my children, I need to abandon ship,” came the message from the skipper, Charles Bradfield.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules was sent to fly overhead and check on the family, while the nearby French naval ship La Glorieuse was tasked to travel to the yacht and rescue those on board.
MNZ General Manager Safety Services Nigel Clifford says the Maritime Radio Service has now completed 15 years of outstanding service to the maritime community.
“The service provides a safety net for those at sea. The contribution the service makes to maritime safety cannot be overstated. The service means that people who need help on the water have someone to turn to in their time of need. “By any scale, helping a total of more than 35,000 people is a great achievement. All of those people have benefited from having a professional and capable distress radio service working around the clock to keep those at sea safe. This service has been provided by communications contractor Kordia since its inception,” says Nigel.
Kordia’s Manager for Assurance Services Brendan Comerford has been at the helm of the radio operations centre for almost 10 years.
“Kordia, and our team of 19 professionally-trained radio operators in particular, have been really proud to be involved with MNZ over the years. Using Kordia technology to literally help save lives is an amazing privilege, and that’s what gets us out of bed every morning,” says Brendan.
Nigel says there are numerous reasons people contact the Maritime Radio Service. “Some contact the service in absolute distress and dire need of rescue. Others need urgent assistance, medical help, have run out of fuel, or have suffered a mechanical failure and just need a tow. Unfortunately we also receive a high number of hoax calls”.
“And of course for many people, tuning in to the marine weather forecast is the first thing they do when considering a boat trip,” says Nigel.