The system for responding to incidents in the North Sea needs to be put in order as soon as possible. That will require improved communication and information sharing between the Coastguard Centre and its cooperating organisations on shore. This is the conclusion of the Dutch Safety Board in its investigation of the emergency response to the fire that broke out on board the car carrier Fremantle Highway during the night of 25 to 26 July 2023.
Problems in the emergency response system are not prioritised, because they do not seem serious enough when considered on their own. The vulnerability of the system only becomes apparent when there is a complex request for assistance that demands coordinated action on the part of multiple coordinating organisations in the emergency response chain, both at sea and on shore.
Dutch Safety Board member Erica Bakkum said: “The Dutch Safety Board has repeatedly pointed out in recent years that the Coastguard Centre is insufficiently capable of assuming control when it needs to collaborate with other parties. It doesn’t help that several ministries share administrative responsibility for the Coastguard. That setup makes it harder to take rapid action. We therefore advocate the appointment of a mandated director who can coordinate the necessary improvements in the response to emergencies.”
In the case of the Fremantle Highway incident, the emergency response focused for a long time on fighting the fire rather than rescuing those on board. In the meantime, seven people jumped overboard and were seriously injured; one of them eventually died. The remaining 16 people on board were ultimately airlifted off by helicopters. The initial focus on firefighting and the limitations in sharing information meant that the Security Regions were not sufficiently prepared for the arrival of the 16 casualties from the helicopters, who also required medical care. There was therefore a delay in transporting them to hospitals in the region.
Read the report: Summary of the Fremantle Highway Incident