On 16 April, Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri opened the annual European Coast Guard Event in Świnoujście, Poland. This is the second such event jointly organised by Frontex, the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The Annual Coast Guard Event provides a platform for national authorities, the EU agencies involved in the cooperation ...
EMSA’s service of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) was used by the Danish authorities to monitor ship emissions around the area of the Great Belt where many large tankers transit on their way to and from the Baltic Sea. The RPAS will specifically measure the ships’ sulphur emissions to check compliance with EU rules governing the sulphur content of marine fuel. The RPAS is fitted with a ...
Following the fire on board the Grande America which subsequently sank on 12 March in the Bay of Biscay, EMSA has been providing emergency assistance at the request of the French authorities. It was reported that the vessel, Grande America, a vehicle carrier with container capacity (IMO 9130937, 56 642 GT, built 1997, Italian flagged) had been carrying 15 000 tons of cargo (860 tons of which ...
EMSA’s service of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems is being used by the Spanish maritime safety agency SASEMAR in the southern province of Huelva for the purpose of identifying and monitoring oil spills as well as for additional assistance during search and rescue missions. SASEMAR is using this opportunity to see first-hand how RPAS can be of value to multipurpose maritime surveillance ...
EMSA has recently secured four contracts for maritime surveillance services based on remotely piloted aircraft systems. These contracts will provide increased maritime surveillance capabilities to European agencies and member states within the context of their coast guard functions. While EMSA has already been providing RPAS services since 2017, these new contracts come in direct response ...
EMSA is assisting French and Italian authorities as they engage in clean-up operations following a collision between Tunisian ro-ro vessel Ulysse and Cypriot general cargo ship CSL Virginia in the Mediterranean, some 28 km north of Corsica, on 7 October. EMSA’s oil spill response vessel Brezzamare arrived on site on the morning of 9 October and has joined the response operations to handle the ...
The first flight of the operation took place on 25 September and marks the beginning of a two-month cycle targeting real-time pre-border monitoring and law enforcement. EMSA contracted Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems are being used this time by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to provide support to the Portuguese Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) (Portuguese National ...
On 11-12 April 2018, the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) hosted the first European Annual Coast Guard event which took place in La Toja, Spain. It was co-organised by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), the European Fisheries Control Agency and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and brought together more than 120 participants from Member States’ national ...
Interagency cooperation between EMSA and the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) was taken a step further following a request for an inspection vessel by EFCA. EMSA identified the Aegis I vessel as the most suitable option for EFCA’s needs, given the vessel’s characteristics and usual area of operation.
In this issue: New vessel reinforces oil spill response in western Med; Debate grows on expanding MARES regional server; Plotting the course for port State control; French navy cadets pay a visit to EMSA.