Communications Console News

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) is making a significant upgrade to its small boat fleet following an order placed for 25 rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) from Zodiac Hurricane Technologies. The order is valued at $5m and represents a major commitment by the Coast Guard towards maintaining the quality and effectiveness of its equipment. The Zodiac Hurricane Model 753 boats will be manufactured at the company’s factory at Delta, British Columbia and will be used by the Coast Guard for both shore based and shipboard search and rescue work.

Confounding the skeptics who said the 70,300-gt Queen Elizabeth 2 would be the last transatlantic liner ever built, the 150,000-gt Queen Mary 2 is set to make her service debut in January 2004, signifying a $780-million investment in a luxury passenger ship structurally engineered for the North Atlantic. Destined to uphold and revitalize the Cunard liner tradition, the 30-knot QM2 will break new ground in passenger ship technology, while incorporating lessons learned with the 1969-commissioned QE2. The challenge of fulfilling an extremely tough schedule in a notoriously harsh environment, and of meeting rising customer expectations as to service quality, comfort and reliability in all conditions, permeates every aspect of the technical design.