Saving the rescuers
The condition of navigation and hydrographic support (NHS) of Russian waterways, as well as rescue fleet leaves much to be desired. Such a disappointing conclusion was made by members of the Marine Board of the Russian government, who met on Dec. 24, 2010. To improve the situation, the Board members decided to develop the concept of maritime NHS system and in the future to form a new federal agency responsible for its development. Rosmorflot eyes investment of over 1bn rubles in improvement of the MNHS system until 2015.
People in trouble are left to themselves...
Studies of the seas and oceans have declined in Russia to a critical level. Such opinion was expressed at a meeting of the Marine Board of Russian Govt on 24 December by Vice-Premier Sergei Ivanov, the correspondent of PortNews reports. He believes absence of cooperation and overlapping of different agencies remains the main reason for the problems with NHSs.
According to Mr. Ivanov, the number of accidents at sea continues to be consistently high: over the last two years there have been 12 shipwrecks in Russia, some of them with casualties.
Currently, the Hydrographic Service of the Russian Navy is in charge of is 4,986 units of navigation support equipment (80% of the total), the rest is owned by the Russian Ministry of Transport, 1560 units are deployed within the boundaries of ports , 681 units (42%) are operated by the Navy.
Mr. Ivanov complained that the Ministry of Transport and Defense Ministry failed to conduct joint drills of rescue fleet, saying “we manage to cooperate successfully with the rest of the world but fail to cooperate with each other.” Vyacheslav Ruksha, CEO of Atomflot (Rosatom Corp.) and Mr. Ivanov noted that the drills of rescue ships with aircrafts support could be conducted in the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route.
Most of the accidents with ships on the Northern Sea Route occur when vessels set sailing on the shipping lane without permission. Participating in the Board meeting Atomflot CEO Vyacheslav Ruksha noted that “there have been several unauthorized departures of ships recently, including river-going vessels, setting out for sail on the Northern Sea Route. That has caused four shipwrecks in the Arctic. However, there have been no shipwrecks, for over the past 10 years, of vessels that had permission to sail on the Northern Sea Route.
According to Sergei Ivanov, it is urgent to take real measures to prevent the unauthorized voyages there, such as the imposing of large fines on the shipowners or forfeiture of licenses.
Andrei Fomichev, the head of St. Petersburg enterprises Severnaya Verf (Shipyard) and Baltic Shipyard is sure that the icebreaking rescue ships can be built only by Russian shipbuilding companies that are skilled and experienced in the construction of such vessels.
"None of our northern neighbors, first of all, I mean Finland and Norway, has no real experience of operations in the Arctic severe conditions. They are building a fleet, intended only for use in the "soft" Arctic", PortNews quoted Mr. Fomichev as saying.
Every eighth Russian rescue vessel of 10 are outdated, every seventh ship needs to be repaired, and some - to be renovated, Mr. Ivanov said.
People in trouble are left to themselves...
Studies of the seas and oceans have declined in Russia to a critical level. Such opinion was expressed at a meeting of the Marine Board of Russian Govt on 24 December by Vice-Premier Sergei Ivanov, the correspondent of PortNews reports. He believes absence of cooperation and overlapping of different agencies remains the main reason for the problems with NHSs.
According to Mr. Ivanov, the number of accidents at sea continues to be consistently high: over the last two years there have been 12 shipwrecks in Russia, some of them with casualties.
Currently, the Hydrographic Service of the Russian Navy is in charge of is 4,986 units of navigation support equipment (80% of the total), the rest is owned by the Russian Ministry of Transport, 1560 units are deployed within the boundaries of ports , 681 units (42%) are operated by the Navy.
Mr. Ivanov complained that the Ministry of Transport and Defense Ministry failed to conduct joint drills of rescue fleet, saying “we manage to cooperate successfully with the rest of the world but fail to cooperate with each other.” Vyacheslav Ruksha, CEO of Atomflot (Rosatom Corp.) and Mr. Ivanov noted that the drills of rescue ships with aircrafts support could be conducted in the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route.
Most of the accidents with ships on the Northern Sea Route occur when vessels set sailing on the shipping lane without permission. Participating in the Board meeting Atomflot CEO Vyacheslav Ruksha noted that “there have been several unauthorized departures of ships recently, including river-going vessels, setting out for sail on the Northern Sea Route. That has caused four shipwrecks in the Arctic. However, there have been no shipwrecks, for over the past 10 years, of vessels that had permission to sail on the Northern Sea Route.
According to Sergei Ivanov, it is urgent to take real measures to prevent the unauthorized voyages there, such as the imposing of large fines on the shipowners or forfeiture of licenses.
Andrei Fomichev, the head of St. Petersburg enterprises Severnaya Verf (Shipyard) and Baltic Shipyard is sure that the icebreaking rescue ships can be built only by Russian shipbuilding companies that are skilled and experienced in the construction of such vessels.
"None of our northern neighbors, first of all, I mean Finland and Norway, has no real experience of operations in the Arctic severe conditions. They are building a fleet, intended only for use in the "soft" Arctic", PortNews quoted Mr. Fomichev as saying.
Every eighth Russian rescue vessel of 10 are outdated, every seventh ship needs to be repaired, and some - to be renovated, Mr. Ivanov said.
Cooperation as a chance
Different agencies authorized to rescue people are still focused on separate actions in search and rescue operations at sea. That leads to overlapping, waste of resources and irresponsibility.
To overcome the uncoordinated efforts of different departments while conducting salvage operations, Sergei Ivanov suggested the forming in future of a new federal agency responsible for the HNS. However, he said, "this will require major policy decisions, including decisions of the commission on legal and administrative reform."
The Marine Board has decided to forward the development of the Concept of Maritime hydrographic and navigation support of maritime activities of the Russian Federation, with the transfer of some MHNS functions to the Transport Ministry for safety of navigation in the waters and on the approaches to Russian ports.
For its part, Rosmorport plans to invest in the 2011-2015 period over 1 billion rubles in development of HNS, Rosmorport CEO Andrew Lavrishchev said.
In particular, Rosmorport will continue to upgrade navigational equipment at the Russian ports, installation of new navigation support systems, which have increased precision characteristics, low power consumption and high reliability. In addition, Rosmorport will update buoy boats. The state-run company plans the completion of news ships for its branches in Archangelsk, Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg, and building another four buoy tenders until 2015.
The head of Rosmorport said, in response to a question of Mr. Ivanov about the profitability of pilot services at Russian port, that pilotage is generally a profitable business, save the Far North ports, or ports with lots of calls of small-tonnage vessels, but only in case “the service is concentrated one hands."
Russian Gosmorspassluzhba (Russian Marine Emergency Rescue Service) is planned to be beefed up with additional rescue teams in the Eastern Sector of the Arctic sea at the ports of Dixon, Tiksi, Pevek and Providence, said the head of the Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transport of Russian Transport Ministry Alexander Davydenko. There will be 7 zones of responsibility of Gosmorspassluzhba established in the region of the Northern Sea Route.
Alexander Davydenko said that to improve the mobility of forces in this zone it is necessary to establish a full-fledged emergency response preparedness of icebreakers and equip them with special gear and equipment for oil spill response and manning the vessels with Gosmorspassluzhba teams.
By 2015, Russia plans to invest 17bn rubles in construction of 41 multipurpose rescue ships, including ice-class vessels with unlimited navigation area. According to the head of Rosmorrechflot, the construction of new vessels will be funded through the Federal Program "Development of Transport System of Russia in 2010-2015.” The vessels will be turned over to FGI Gosmorspassluzhba. The rescue vessels were designed in 2009, nine ships were completed in 2010, 10 more ships will be constructed next year.
Sophia Vinarova.
Different agencies authorized to rescue people are still focused on separate actions in search and rescue operations at sea. That leads to overlapping, waste of resources and irresponsibility.
To overcome the uncoordinated efforts of different departments while conducting salvage operations, Sergei Ivanov suggested the forming in future of a new federal agency responsible for the HNS. However, he said, "this will require major policy decisions, including decisions of the commission on legal and administrative reform."
The Marine Board has decided to forward the development of the Concept of Maritime hydrographic and navigation support of maritime activities of the Russian Federation, with the transfer of some MHNS functions to the Transport Ministry for safety of navigation in the waters and on the approaches to Russian ports.
For its part, Rosmorport plans to invest in the 2011-2015 period over 1 billion rubles in development of HNS, Rosmorport CEO Andrew Lavrishchev said.
In particular, Rosmorport will continue to upgrade navigational equipment at the Russian ports, installation of new navigation support systems, which have increased precision characteristics, low power consumption and high reliability. In addition, Rosmorport will update buoy boats. The state-run company plans the completion of news ships for its branches in Archangelsk, Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg, and building another four buoy tenders until 2015.
The head of Rosmorport said, in response to a question of Mr. Ivanov about the profitability of pilot services at Russian port, that pilotage is generally a profitable business, save the Far North ports, or ports with lots of calls of small-tonnage vessels, but only in case “the service is concentrated one hands."
Russian Gosmorspassluzhba (Russian Marine Emergency Rescue Service) is planned to be beefed up with additional rescue teams in the Eastern Sector of the Arctic sea at the ports of Dixon, Tiksi, Pevek and Providence, said the head of the Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transport of Russian Transport Ministry Alexander Davydenko. There will be 7 zones of responsibility of Gosmorspassluzhba established in the region of the Northern Sea Route.
Alexander Davydenko said that to improve the mobility of forces in this zone it is necessary to establish a full-fledged emergency response preparedness of icebreakers and equip them with special gear and equipment for oil spill response and manning the vessels with Gosmorspassluzhba teams.
By 2015, Russia plans to invest 17bn rubles in construction of 41 multipurpose rescue ships, including ice-class vessels with unlimited navigation area. According to the head of Rosmorrechflot, the construction of new vessels will be funded through the Federal Program "Development of Transport System of Russia in 2010-2015.” The vessels will be turned over to FGI Gosmorspassluzhba. The rescue vessels were designed in 2009, nine ships were completed in 2010, 10 more ships will be constructed next year.
Sophia Vinarova.