National Maritime Operations Centre welcomes HRH Prince of Wales

HRH Prince of Wales with Coastguards at the
National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham, Hants
HRH the Prince of Wales has officially opened the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham today (1st July).

The Prince, who is Honorary Commodore of Her Majesty’s Coastguard, also spent time looking at the work done at the flagship centre which is at the heart of the new National Network.

HM Coastguard’s National Network is the first point of call for 999 calls, ranging from vessels in distress, to people trapped at sea and cliff fallers.
The National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC) is supported by ten coastguard operation centres across the country and manages up-to-the-minute nationwide search and rescue capabilities. Since it went live in September it has dealt with 2,354 incidents.*

It also monitors vessels when asked, including those from West Africa as part of measures to protect the UK from the Ebola virus.

Today HRH met with senior members of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and spoke with controllers and operations officers – the people who oversee incidents and deploy resources.

Sir Alan Massey, Chief Executive of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, said, 
‘This is a wonderful day for Her Majesty's Coastguard. 

‘We are greatly honoured that HRH The Prince of Wales, as our Honorary Commodore, today formally opened our National Maritime Operations Centre here in Fareham. This marks a huge step forward in the Coastguard's ability to coordinate effective rescues at sea and on our coasts.

‘The NMOC is at the hub of a new, integrated network of Coastguard Operations Centres around the UK. 

‘When the network is fully in place by the end of this year, both mariners and the general public will be able to count on an unprecedented quality of service from our excellent systems and highly trained staff.'
Richard Parkes, Director, Maritime Operations at the MCA, said, ‘The official opening of the National Maritime Operations Centre marks another important milestone in the history of Her Majesty’s Coastguard. It signifies the step change in capability that our new National Network will deliver and recognises the tremendous amount of hard work involved in bringing this network online around the coast of the UK.’
Keith Oliver, Chief Coastguard said, ‘We are delighted that HRH the Prince of Wales accepted our invitation to open the NMOC. As honorary Commodore and a former volunteer himself, he shows great interest in and understanding of the work of our 3,500 volunteers and the regular officers of HM Coastguard in safeguarding our coastline.’

NOTES TO EDITORS
The National Maritime Operations Centre (at Fareham) has been operational since last September and is the heart of the new National Network that manages Coastguard work around the whole of the UK coastline.

As part of this network the NMOC, supported by 10 Coastguard Operations Centres around the country, manages workload across the whole UK. This means in a search and rescue incident – for example – there can be a bigger and better support work available to Coastguards wherever they are located in the network.

Eighty Coastguards are already based at the new centre at Fareham – once the new national network is fully up and running by the end of this year, there will be 96 based there. All have been through an extensive training programme including live exercises with lifeboats and coastguard rescue teams.

They are the first point of call for 999 calls ranging from vessels in distress, to people cut off by the tide, to those stuck in the mud and cliff fallers. The NMOC also monitors vessels when asked, including those from West Africa because of the problem of the Ebola virus.

Falmouth, Holyhead, Milford Haven and Humber are already on the new network with Aberdeen, Shetland, Belfast, London Coastguard, Stornoway and Dover set to join by the end of this year.



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