Explain sar co operation for passenger ships ?

146
FOLLOW

The Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-fourth session (30 May to 8 June 2001),
had adopted regulation V/7.3, which requires all passenger ships to which SOLAS chapter I applies to have on board a plan for co-operation with appropriate search and rescue services in event of an emergency . All ships to which SOLAS regulation V/7.3 applies should have co-operation plans in place by 1 July 2002
The intent of SAR co-operation plans is to help to ensure that assistance can be provided to
persons in distress at sea. SAR co-operation plans are to enhance mutual understanding between a
ship, company and SAR services; this is best achieved by the prior exchange of information and by
joint exercises.
 
The objectives of SAR co-operation planning are to:
1 enable the early and efficient establishment of contact in the event of emergency between the passenger ship, her operators’ shorebased emergency response system and the SAR services. The SAR co-operation plan should ensure that all relevant contact details are known to each of the three parties beforehand and that these details are kept up-to-date;
2 provide the SAR services with easily accessible and up-to-date information about the ship - in particular her intended voyage, communications and emergency response systems; and  
3 provide the ship and her operators with easily accessible information about SAR and other emergency services available in the ship’s area of operation and to assist in decision-making and contingency planning.The plan is not only of use when a passenger ship is herself the subject of an emergency. It
will also be useful when passenger ships are acting as SAR facilities and, particularly, when taking
on the role of On Scene Co-ordinator.

Passenger ship operators’ emergency response plans should be linked to those of the SAR services responsible for the areas in which their ships operate, so that the tripartite response –
i.e. the response on-board, the response from the company’s emergency response organization ashore
and the response from the SAR services - is co-ordinated effectively and efficiently. It is the purpose
of the SAR co-operation plan to act as that link

Use by ships trading through many SAR regions
there may be administrative difficulties in maintaining direct links between a ship
transiting many SAR regions, such as a cruise ship, and each SAR service along her route. For such
ships it is neither necessary and practical to hold a complete copy of a ship’s SAR co-operation plan
at every Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC), nor is it to maintain on board extensive details of every
SAR service with which the ship may possibly come into contact.
This can be overcome by use of the SAR data provider  system which permits the use of contact points between the SAR services and the cruise ship operator.
 In cases where the ship cannot establish direct communications with the RCC in whose area
the ship is operating, then the SAR data provider must be able to provide essential information
rapidly to the parties concerned on a 24-hour basis.
A passenger ship such as a ferry, which trades on fixed routes, should not use the SAR data
provider system, but submit a plan to all SAR services along her route. Other passenger ships, such
as cruise ships, are not required to draw up co-operation plans with more than one SAR service.
For this purpose, ‘cruising areas’ are defined as:
 1 Eastern North Atlantic
2 Africa
3 North and Central America
4 South America
5 Australasia
6 Asia  

Periodic exercises
The regulation requires that the plan includes provisions for periodic exercises to be undertaken to test its effectiveness.The ship should not be required to exercise her SAR co-operation arrangements more than once in any twelve-month period. Whenever possible, such exercises should be held in conjunction with other exercises involving the ship. The aim should be to test all parts of the emergency response network realistically, over time. A wide variety of scenarios should be employed; different SAR .Exercises conducted under this regulation should occasionally include the passenger ship
taking on the role of a On Scene Co-ordinator Exercises conducted under this regulation should be formally recorded by all the main participants (ship, company and SAR service). The record should include at least the date, location and type of exercise and a list of the main participants. A copy of the record should be available aboard the ship for inspection