By
Rebecca Gibson |
Members of the US Coast Guard (USCG), National Emergency Management Agency (NE-MA), Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), cruise companies, emergency response teams and key Bahamas Government officials have completed the first in a series of mass rescue operation exercises code-named Black Swan in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
Held from the 2-4 April, Black Swan was planned to test emergency response, operational safety practices and evacuation procedures involving cruise ships, medical treatment operations and land-based passenger care facilities. The event involved testing emergency procedures, search and rescue coordination, ship abandonment processes and accountability of passengers and crew, as well as landing site management and medical procedures.
“We’ve been coordinating these exercises over the past few decades as one of many processes to continually improve maritime safety of passengers and crews,” said Captain Todd Lutes, chief of incident management, Seventh USCG District. “The Coast Guard’s coordination with multiple agencies during the three-day joint exercise was seamless in exercising these procedures.”
Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas and Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) Norwegian Sky were used for an evacuation drill of passengers and tendering to port, while Carnival Cruise Lines provided family guest care facilities and NCL provided landing site forward teams.
Freeport’s Emergency Operations Centre was also fully activated to identify areas for improvement when assessing and managing rescue events.
Approximately 200 personnel, including crew on the Coast Guard Cutters Joshua Appleby, Tarpon and Diamondback, as well as the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association, the Royal Bahamas Defense Force and 173 volunteers participated in the exercise.
Christine Duffy, president and CEO of CLIA, said: “The exercise further strengthens the cruise industry’s unwavering commitment to emergency preparedness in coordination with the Coast Guard and other government authorities. It also underscores the focus we maintain on our number one priority: the safety and comfort of our guests.”
The next exercise will be held in 2015.