Preliminary conference on implementation of search and rescue coordination plan for passenger ships operating from shore to Con Son Island.

On August 11th, 2023, Vungtau MRCC (Regional Centre III) organized a preliminary conference to review the implementation of a search and rescue coordination plan for passenger ships operating from the shore to Con Dao.

Vungtau MRCC’s representative gives an opening speech

Attending the conference were representatives of leaders of Maritime Port Authorities Vung Tau and Can Tho; Port Authorities of Inland Waterway: Vung Tau, Can Tho, and Region IV; Provincial Border Guard Command of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and Soc Trang; Provincial Commanding Commitee of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue of Ba Ria-Vung Tau; Representatives of companies operating passenger ship routes with one terminal at Con Son Island: Phu Quoc Express Joint Stock Company and Superdong Fast Ferry Kien Giang Joint Stock Company.

Conference overview

Recently, the Regional Centre III has signed regulations to coordinate maritime search and rescue operations with agencies in the region (Provincial Border Guard Command of 10 provinces, Squadrons 18, and Squadron 28; Coast Guard Region 3 Command; Maritime Port Authorities in the region; and Ho Chi Minh City Coast Radio Station) to handle incidents and accidents.

The passenger ship route from the shore to Con Son Island including Vung Tau - Con Son Island, Can Tho - Con Son Island, and Tran De (Soc Trang) - Con Son Island with 06 passenger ships are in operation. From the year 2022 to the first 6 months of the year 2023, passenger ships transported about 648,000 passengers (328,000 arrivals; 320,000 departures from Con Son Island).

In the region, the authorities have coordinated well in management work at the wharf, regularly updating the weather conditions, strictly inspecting ships before issuing port departure permission, and developing plans to ensure maritime traffic safety in the region. Passenger transport companies have strictly complied with laws in passenger transport from shore to island; regularly maintaining ships; and ensuring adequate equipment for communication, life-saving and fire-fighting in good condition. Therefore, all trips are safe, and no accidents or incidents occurred.

There are many potential causes of incidents and accidents: Regional weather condition often changes abnormally, the ship traffic and density in the area are quite high, the awareness of compliance with laws on maritime safety and security of many vessels is not good, especially fishing boats, etc... Currently, passenger ships operating on the routes from shore to Con Son Island have a capacity of 300 to 600 passengers per trip. In the case of emergency, search and rescue operations encountered many difficulties due to the large number of passengers.

Vungtau Maritime Port Authority’s representative speaking

At the Conference, all parties contributed opinions to assess the current status of search and rescue operations for passenger ships which transport from the shore to Con Son Island and agreed on solutions to cope with accidents and incidents on passenger ships in the upcoming time. Management agencies (Maritime Port Authority, Inland Waterway Port Authority, Regional Centre III) annually update the 24/7 on-duty phone numbers (or hotlines) of relevant agencies, review and make statistics on the number of vessels that can be mobilized to participate in search and rescue. Local agencies (Provincial Commanding Commitee of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue; Provincial Border Guard Command) need to review and make statistics of vessels that can participate in search and rescue operations; local health facilities. Transport companies must ensure the best technical condition for ships, and annually update the phone number of the person in charge of ship safety (or the company's hotline), provide authorities with ship search and rescue plans to coordinate in case of accident or incident; Regularly organize drills and practice crowd management skills for crew members, and proactively update regional weather conditions to plan ships’ schedule.

Representatives at the conference

At the end of the conference, agencies and companies agreed to continue updating and organizing the good implementation of the signed coordination regulations, and synchronously deploy solutions to strengthen the management and supervision of passenger ships during the licensing process for ships to depart, implement supervision and update information all the time during ships’ trip to ensure absolute safety when operating on the passenger transport route from shore to Con Son Island./.