Hamburg, 5 December 2006 - The Emergency Response Service (ERS) of
Germanischer Lloyd has taken on its 500th ship: The "Histria Perla", a chemicals tanker with a tonnage of 40,471 dwt was built in 2005 at the
Constantza Shipyard in Romania and classed by Germanischer Lloyd.
Nicolae Berechet, Technical Director of Histria Ship Management, received the 500th ERS certificate at the company's headquarters in Constanta, Romania.
Accidents, collisions, oil spillages, groundings, on-board fires – the Emergency Response Service has been helping ships in distress for thirteen years. The service is triggered by telephone, using a special emergency number. The emergency call is received by the "Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre" of the German Maritime Rescue Service in Bremen. From there, the ERS team at Germanischer Lloyd is alerted. All further exchanges of information with the shipping company and the crew are via phone, fax, telex and email connections reserved for the purpose.
It is essential for the rescue service to have a computational model giving all the technical data for the ship in question.
In the case of an emergency, the service provided includes expert
analysis of the damage and a detailed recommendation for the rescue
procedure. The benefits for the shipping company: "An accident can often cost several hundred million euros. If you have an efficient crisis
management system, you can not only save considerable amounts of money,
but also avoid serious environmental damage," says Kray.
Nearly 50 shipping companies are benefiting from Germanischer Lloyd's
Emergency Response Service. 60% of the ERS certificates have been issued
to container ships, 24% to tankers and 16% to other types of shipping such as bulkers, ferries or luxury yachts.
A particularly important part of the partnership is to maintain a continuous exchange of information with the customers, not only in emergency situations. Kray: "This is why the GL Academy will soon be offering training courses to explain and test out procedures and how to deal with the ERS in an emergency." The first of these courses are planned for autumn 2007.
Since 1993 it has been a legal requirement in the USA for oil tankers to contact an emergency service in case of an accident - a consequence of
the "Exxon Valdez" accident off Alaska. In 2004, INTERTANKO has obliged its members to register their tankers with an Emergency Response System. From January 2007, MARPOL will be requiring tankers over 5000 dwt tonnes
to be registered with an emergency system. The Emergency Response
Service from Germanischer Lloyd is also the ideal partner for companies
preparing the "Vessel Response" plans for non-tankers required by the US Coast Guard.
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