IMO BOSS COMMISSION NEW SAR CENTRE

[proud_ionian]

IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos commissioned of a regional maritime rescue co-ordination centre (MRCC) during a trip last week to Kenya and Tanzania during which he also met the presidents of the two countries.

The new MRCC in Mombasa is the first such facility to be inaugurated following a resolution adopted by the IMO Conference on search and rescue (SAR) and the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), held in October 2000 in Florence, Italy, proposing the establishment of five sub-regional MRCCs in western, southern and eastern parts of Africa. A second regional MRCC under this initiative is expected to be opened in Cape Town, South Africa, before the end of this year while three more, in Nigeria, Liberia and Morocco, are currently at the planning stage.

Along with its associated Maritime Rescue Sub-Centres (MRSCs) in Victoria (Seychelles) and Dar es Salaam (United Republic of Tanzania), the Mombasa MRCC will provide search and rescue coverage in what had previously been identified as one of the areas suffering unduly from a lack of adequate SAR and GMDSS facilities.

Speaking to the staff of the MRCC during the commissioning ceremony, Mr. Mitropoulos took the opportunity to point out the immense importance of the work that lay before them.

He said, “I congratulate you on your employment and on the humanitarian task you will be asked to perform, 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week, 365 days-a-year – the same hard tasks shipping performs in the service of the community.

He also first visited the Mission to Seafarers in Mombasa. In praising seafarers for their services to the community, he described them as “the soul, heart and brains of a ship”.

source: MGN