Lifejackets News

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has issued a safety bulletin for owners and operators of small commercial passenger vessels urging the review of operations, risk assessments and pre-departure briefings in line with current guidance to ensure passenger safety.Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents, Andrew Moll OBE, said: “Passenger excursions on RIBs should be a pleasurable experience. This safety bulletin, prompted by a serious spinal injury to a passenger on a sea safari…

Survitec, a survival technology solutions provider, has opened a new service center in the Port of Southampton, boosting its UK servicing capability.The 10,000 sq. ft building, newly fitted out with equipment and facilities for the servicing and repair of liferafts, lifejackets, immersion suits and other safety equipment, will deliver increased capacity and faster turnaround times when meeting the needs of customers in the cruise, defense, Border Force and commercial shipping sectors…

A newly refurbished ferry has been delivered to provide additional capacity for operator CalMac Ferries on the west coast of Scotland.Purchased out of Norway in 2021 and renamed Loch Frisa, the vessel departed Dales Marine Services in Leith on May 29 for repositioning to Oban where it is undertaking familiarization and entry-in-to service activities.Starting in mid-June, the double-ended RoPax ferry will be phased into the Oban-Craignure timetable, in tandem with Coruisk. Once Loch Frisa takes over the full Coruisk timetable…

Survitec’s advanced fire fighting system and safety equipment aboard Yara Birkeland – the world’s first fully autonomous containership – has successfully completed its first annual service ahead of the 3200dwt ship’s first laden voyage.The zero-emission, fully electric Yara Birkeland is preparing to carry its first fertilizer cargo on the Herøya-Brevik route in early 2022.The groundbreaking vessel, which deployed on its maiden manned voyage in November, operates a unique, automatic…

At least 16 people died when their boat overturned off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Friday, in the third maritime disaster involving migrants this week, the country's coastguard said.Authorities scrambled a search and rescue operation overnight northwest of Paros. Air and sea assets were deployed to the area, the coastguard said.Greece is one of the main routes into the European Union for migrants and refugees from Africa, the Middle East and beyond, though the flow has tapered off since 2015-2016…

Australia's maritime safety regulator is seeking ways to reduce man overboard drownings, including potentially creating a rule that would require lifejackets to be worn on certain domestic commercial vessels.Since July 1, 2013, 34 incidents on domestic commercial vessels have resulted in 44 people drowning, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), who noted safety data and research strongly indicates that wearing a lifejacket significantly improves chances…

Maritime survival equipment specialist Survitec has completed the acquisition of Hansen Protection, a provider of personal protective equipment. Ron Krisanda, Executive Chairman at Survitec, commented: "The addition of Hansen Protection, and its leading portfolio in personal protective equipment, protective rainwear, and technical textile solutions, fits perfectly within Survitec. "Our acquisition strategy is intended to broaden and deepen our offering and enhance our ability to service customers and this transaction does just that.

Viking Life-Saving Equipment has launched a new Walk-to-Work crew transfer suit that the company says overcomes a cumbersome feature of offshore wind turbine maintenance procedures without compromising safety."The new Viking YouSafe Walk to Work is a one-size immersion suit airtight packed into a bag that is attached to the user’s lifejacket instead of being worn during the transfer between support vessels and offshore installations. Sealed in a protective bag, the lightweight immersion suit has been developed in cooperation with leading offshore wind and Oil & Gas operators…

Quickly growing turbine numbers, installed in deeper waters offshore and farther out to sea are needed to serve accelerating demand for wind energy, but safety issues for such structures go beyond the feats of civil engineering making them possible.Supervised remotely, all of these offshore assets nonetheless need periodic physical inspection and maintenance, with the engineers landing on remote platforms either from helicopters or via gangways connecting to vessels in motion.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.The Italian Coast Guard said on Saturday it had rescued 45 migrants after their ship capsized 15 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa."At the moment, a total of 45 migrants, all men, have been rescued and arrived this morning in Lampedusa," the Italian Coast Guard said in a statement sent in the late afternoon, after indicating earlier a number of 47 people rescued.It did not give any indications of the nationality of the rescued people.The Coast Guard said it was continuing to search for any missing people…

A ship carrying 43 crew and nearly 6,000 cattle from New Zealand to China capsized after losing an engine in stormy weather in the East China Sea, the only crew member rescued so far told Japan's coastguard on Thursday.The Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress call from the west of Amami Oshima island in southwestern Japan on Wednesday as Typhoon Maysak lashed the area with strong winds and heavy seas.Japan's coastguard said it had rescued one crew member, Sareno Edvarodo, a 45-year-old chief officer from the Philippines, on Wednesday night (Tokyo time) while searching for the ship.According to Edvarodo, the ship lost an engine before it was hit by a wave and capsized, a coastguard spokeswoman said.When the ship capsized, crew were instructed to put on lifejackets.

Subchapter M, the United States regulatory code dealing with towing vessels and requirements for towing vessel safety, has officially been in place since July 20, 2016, when the U.S. Coast Guard finalized Sub M rulemaking.Since the rules were finalized there have been a couple of important hammer dates. In spring and summer 2018 the first certificates of inspection (COI) were issued. COIs are central within the Sub M program. A vessel needs a COI to legally operate. (All vessels were required to comply with Sub M by July 20, 2018.

Survitec introduces a lifejacket range that has a minimum 150 Newton buoyancy.The re-engineering of its existing Premier lifejacket range to increase buoyancy and comfort follows a growing trend across the cruise ship sector to increase lifejacket capacity on board.Mark Lutman, Survitec’s Global Technical Sales Manager, LSA, said: “Cruise ships typically carry substantially more lifejackets onboard than the mandatory requirement, with lifejackets and lockers now located in all cabins…

The Coast Guard Captain of the Port San Juan anticipates setting Port Condition Zulu at 8 p.m. Monday in the U.S. Virgins Islands due to the possibility of gale force winds from Tropical Storm Karen arriving to the area within 12 hours.Ports in Puerto Rico will remain in Port Condition X-Ray until further notice.During Port Condition ZULU the port is closed to all vessel traffic with the exception of vessel traffic specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port.Ports in Port Condition X-RAY will remain open to all commercial traffic and all cargo transfer operations at Coast Guard regulated facilities may continue while X-RAY remains…

The Coast Guard Captain of the Port San Juan set Port Condition X-RAY at 2 a.m. Monday for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgins Islands due to the possibility of sustained gale force winds greater than 39 mph from Tropical Storm Dorian that may arrive to the area within 48 hours.The Coast Guard strongly cautions the maritime community to remain vigilant and take the necessary precautions as Tropical Storm Dorian makes way into Eastern Caribbean waters.During Port Condition X-RAY port…

Two safety equipment specialists - Survitec and Marine Rescue Technologies (MRT) - have created a lifejacket that accommodates and complements a range of MRT personal locator beacons (PLB) and takes advantage of the two companies’ knowledge in their respective fields.Both companies have a long and respected history – MRT has 40 years’ experience in designing man overboard safety systems.While Survitec, with its 160-year heritage and complete safety and survival portfolio – has a proven track record of working in collaboration with high profile industry leaders to develop and deliver bespoke safety innovations.The lifejacket – the Seacrewsader…

The Coast Guard Captain of the Port set port condition Whiskey for Hawaii County, Tuesday afternoon.Commercial ports in Hawaii County are Hilo Harbor and Kawaihae Harbor of the Big Island.During Port heavy weather condition WHISKEY, gale force winds 39 mph are predicted to arrive within 72 hours. Both ports currently remain open to all commercial and recreational traffic.The public is reminded of these important safety messages:When hurricane or tropical storm force winds are present stay off the water. The Coast Guard’s search and rescue capabilities degrade as storm conditions strengthen.

The U.S. Coast Guard and good Samaritans assisted the crew of the 63-foot catamaran Kaulana after it reportedly struck a rock off Manele Bay, Hawaii, Saturday morning.A Station Maui 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew arrived on scene and assisted with damage control. The crew of the vessel Maui Princess transferred the 15 passengers from the Kaulana and towed the stricken vessel to Lahaina. The RB-M crew remained with both vessels until they enter the harbor channel. There are no reports of injuries.“We are thankful for the quick response from the crews of the Maui Princess and Quicksilver…

The Coast Guard and good Samaritans aboard several commercial vessels are responding to a reported vessel fire on the 650-foot Sincerity Ace 1,800 nautical miles (2071 statute miles) northwest of Oahu on the high seas, Monday.“The distance involved here requires any and all available support, we thank the crews of the commercial vessels for volunteering to assist and have Coast Guard air support en route,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Les Elliott of JRCC Honolulu.One commercial vessel…

U.K.-based offshore drilling company Stena Drilling has placed a significant part of its safety equipment and servicing management under a VIKING Offshore Safety Agreement.In early 2018, an extensive review done by VIKING Life-Saving Equipment for its long-time customer revealed the potential for major cost and administration savings in placing much of the company’s safety equipment sourcing and administration under a VIKING Offshore Safety Agreement (OSA), Stena Drilling welcomed the input and signed up.

Safety solutions provider Survitec is returning to Seawork International in Southampton from July 3-5, a year after winning the Spirit of Innovation award at last year’s event. The focus of Survitec’s stand this year will be SOLAS 360; a brand-new concept aimed at improving overall safety levels through offering the products and services required in a holistic and consistent manner, available through one supplier. SOLAS 360 includes lifeboats, liferafts, personal lifesaving appliances…

The U.S. Coast Guard said one of its vessels has capsized in Mobile Bay near Gaillard Island, Ala., Thursday. All four crew members aboard at the time of the incident have been rescued.The stricken vessel, a 26-foot Trailerable Aids to Navigation Boat from Coast Guard Sector Mobile, capsized while transiting in Mobile Bay to conduct aids to navigation operations at approximately 10:45 a.m.A 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boat crew from Coast Guard Station Dauphin Island arrived on scene at 11:44 a.m. to recover the four crew members who were all wearing lifejackets and had climbed on top of the capsized vessel’s hull. The four crew were transferred to EMS and then Coast Guard Sector Mobile.The cause of the incident is under investigation.

No matter what route you take, time is marching on and that means compliance requirements, inspections and audits are just around the corner. This July, major sections of the Subchapter M regulation will enter into force as the towing industry begins the process of certifying as many as 5,700 U.S.-flagged vessels that fall under the remit of the new safety and environmental standards. Demand for technical support from third-party organizations (TPO) such as ABS has been escalating…