Icelandic Coast Guard News

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Paul Zukunft presented at last week’s 6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations in Washington, DC. Summarizing Adm. In my role as the Commandant of the Coast Guard, I view the Coast Guard as the lead federal maritime agency when it comes to all things Arctic. By “all things Arctic,” I mean everything from safety of life at sea, to marine environmental protection, to fisheries enforcement and a whole host of Coast Guard missions. They all reside within one service, the United States Coast Guard.

The Russian tall ship Kruzenshtern collided with the Icelandic Coastguard patrol ships Þór and Týr, which were docked at the quayside. Both Icelandic vessels sustained damage. “These things can happen when a big ship is approaching the quay, or leaving it. Nobody was injured,” the Coastguard’s Ásgrímur Ásgrímsson told Vísir, philosophically. “The police have been called and the maritime accident investigators and witness statements have been taken. The incident took place on June 11 when the ship was on her way out of the port. The STS Kruzenshtern, which has been docked in Reykjavík Harbour for the past few days, was on its way out when it ran into trouble. All the three ships were damaged.

Boat arrivals up more than 40 pct this year; this year 600 dead vs 100 in same period last year. With migration across the Mediterranean surging, the European Union's largest border operation is bracing for a record year of arrivals by sea, especially as summer brings calm waters between Italy and Libya. Off the eastern coast of Sicily earlier this week, the 18-member crew of the Icelandic coast guard vessel Tyr -- named after a Nordic god of war -- conducted rescue drills in seas more familiar in Greek mythology, preparing for the worst. Though the United Nations refugee agency has criticised the mission, known as Triton, because its mandate is not search and rescue but border control with patrols near the Italian coast, the EU border agency Frontex says it is saving lives.

Northrop Grumman Corporation won a contract to supply an integrated bridge system (IBS) for a new offshore patrol vessel (OPV) being built in Chile for delivery to the Icelandic Coast Guard. The contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit by ASMAR Shipyard in Talcahuano, which is building the 93-meter ship for the Icelandic Coast Guard. The IBS installation will be based on Sperry Marine’s next-generation VisionMaster FT navigation technology.

Rolls-Royce has won a contract to supply the design and a full equipment package for a multi purpose coastguard vessel to be built by ASMAR in Chile for the government of Iceland. On completion in 2009 the vessel will perform a variety of tasks, including coastguard duties and management of Iceland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), fishery control, standby and rescue, emergency towing, pollution prevention, oil recovery and firefighting. To meet Iceland’s requirements, UT-Design in Rolls-Royce has developed the UT 512 L. The starting point was the Norwegian coastguard vessel KV Harstad, type UT 512, built for a Norwegian shipowner and chartered to Kystvakt .