Dutch Safety Board Exposes Major Gaps in North Sea Maritime Emergency Response

A critical investigation by the Dutch Safety Board has revealed significant vulnerabilities in the North Sea’s maritime emergency response system, highlighting urgent needs for reform following the July 2023 Fremantle Highway fire incident.

The investigation focused on the emergency response to a fire aboard the Panamanian car carrier on July 25, 2023, approximately 27 kilometers north of Ameland. The incident, which began at 23:43 that evening, resulted in one fatality and multiple injuries.

Dutch Safety Board member Erica Bakkum highlighted that the Coastguard Centre has shown persistent difficulties in maintaining control during multi-agency collaborations. “Several ministries sharing administrative responsibility for the Coastguard” creates additional complications in rapid response situations.

‘The Dutch Safety Board has repeatedly pointed out in recent years that the Coastguard Centre is insufficiently capable of assuming control when it needs to collaborate with other parties. It doesn’t help that several ministries share administrative responsibility for the Coastguard. That setup makes it harder to take rapid action,” she said.

The investigation identified a critical error in the initial response strategy. Emergency services prioritized firefighting operations over search and rescue efforts, leading to dire consequences. Seven crew members, facing desperate circumstances, jumped overboard and sustained serious injuries, with one crew member ultimately losing their life. The remaining 16 crew members were eventually rescued by helicopter.

The report further revealed that inadequate information sharing resulted in regional security services being unprepared for the arrival of helicopter-rescued casualties, causing delays in hospital transportation.

To address these systemic issues, the Safety Board has recommended the appointment of a mandated director to coordinate necessary improvements in emergency response. The Board outlined specific areas requiring immediate attention, including enhanced digital information exchange between the Coastguard Coordination Centre and emergency response partners, improved assessment and decision-making processes, better incident reporting systems, and increased preparedness for mass casualty events.

The investigation also uncovered uncertainties regarding maritime firefighting team deployment protocols and highlighted problematic interference between firefighting and rescue operations. In response, the Board has called on the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management to develop clear guidelines for preventing such operational conflicts.

The Board’s findings suggest that while individual issues might appear manageable in isolation, the system’s vulnerabilities become evident during complex emergencies requiring coordinated responses from multiple organizations both at sea and onshore.

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