5.2 The SAR system and preparedness in Greenland
In addition to the ship’s equipment and emergency response plan, as mentioned, there are some international law obligations for coastal states in relation to enforcing the regulations and to maintaining an effective SAR system. The implementation of the Polar Code means, for example, that there is a number of tasks that the coastal state must carry out in relation to inspection and enforcing the new rules at shipping companies, as well as in connection with port state inspections. In addition, Denmark/Greenland is obligated to collaborate with the other Arctic nations on the SAR function, including monitoring of the whole Arctic area. As mentioned above, since 2011 this cooperation has been regulated by the “The Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement (Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic)”.(1) See above 3.2.
In relation to rescue at sea and the agreement between Greenland and Denmark, it is the Danish Defence Forces who are responsible for recue at sea beyond 3 nm, while it is the responsibility of the police in Greenland within 3 nm. However, this does not include large search and rescue actions (defined as search and rescue actions of ships covered by the reporting systems GREENPOS) and rescue tasks in large areas of sheltered water areas and channels, e.g. the Disco Bay, and all search and rescue actions in North Greenland and Northeast Greenland, since there are not sufficient police forces in these areas. Rescue at sea is defined as an effort to assist a ship in distress (and its crew and passengers). The biggest challenges to the rescue operations are the large distances and difficult terrain involved, and the extremely limited infrastructure in Greenland, which presents serious logistical challenges. In Greenland there are no roads linking the towns or settlements. This means that the most important means of transport are by plane, helicopter or ship. Another important challenge in creating an overview of the situation in order to deploy and manage units, is that these may be several thousand kilometres from Arctic Command’s headquarters in Nuuk. Establishing channels of communication over very long distances is also a challenge. There are a limited number of airports that can be used by the Danish Defence Forces’ large transport planes and monitoring planes. Large civilian passenger aircraft and cargo planes are only able to land at Thule Air Base, Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq. Apart from these three airports, there are very few other airports or landing strips available on the east coast of Greenland and no airports that can handle large civilian aircraft.(2) Forsvarsministeriet, Forsvarsministeriets fremtidige opgaveløsning i Arktis, 2016, p. 89 ff.
The maritime search and rescue centre in Nuuk and the rescue centre in Kangerlussuaq, merged in 2014 to become the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Greenland, located as an integrated part of Arctic Command’s headquarters in Nuuk. JRCC Greenland manages and co-ordinates the Danish Defence Forces’ overall search and rescue efforts. In 2011, the “Den Operative Kontaktgruppe Arktis” (Operative Contact Group Arctic) was created with the following permanent members: Arctic Command, Greenland Police, coastal radio service Aasiaat Radio and Air Greenland, with the operative operations of civilian SAR helicopters. The aim of the group’s creation is to strengthen the inter-organisational collaboration between the permanent and voluntary players of air and sea rescue operations in the Arctic area.(3) The above information is based in interviews conducted during the period from February 2017 until August 2017. The interviews were mostly conducted as face-to-face expert interviews, with one conducted by telephone. The respondents of interviews were maritime/SAR stakeholders and shipping companies both in Denmark and Greenland. All interviews were recoded and analyzed with help of Nvivo 11. See also Hanna Rasmussen & Birgit Feldtmann, Safe Navigation of Cruise Ships in Greenlandic Waters – Legal Frame and Practical Challenges International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation (TransNav) Vol. 14, nr.1 2020, page 208 f. See also Skibsfartens og Luftfartens Redningsråd; SAR Grønland, Eftersøgnings- og redningstjenesten i Grønland, chapter 8. “Skibsfartens og Luftfartens Redningsråd” (the Shipping and Aviation Rescue Committee) prepares, approves and publishes the results of the performance of SAR services in Greenland. The three overall requirements in the targets and performance requirements are:(4) Skibsfartens og Luftfartens Redningsråd; SAR Grønland, Eftersøgnings- og redningstjenesten i Grønland. See also Forsvarsministeriet, Forsvarsministeriets fremtidige opgaveløsning i Arktis, 2016, p. 83.
Rescue percentage of 94%. In other words, the aim is that the average rescue rate in the Greenlandic SAR-system’s geographical area is at least 94% during a period of five years.
Emergency response – it is envisioned to maintain a sufficient SAR emergency response service in Greenland, which efficiently and proportionally responds to all emergency distress calls, including deploying a suitable number of relevant units.
Response time – There are specific requirements for response times, i.e. from the time an alarm is raised to ‘mobilisation’.
The Danish Defence Forces concluded in 2016 that the most likely, but still not very likely, scenario for a large-scale SAR operation in the Greenlandic SAR-zone would be a passenger ship with up the 250 passengers. What is interesting in this context is that the reasoning behind this is that there are specific regulations for passenger ships with over 250 passengers.(5) Forsvarsministeriet, Forsvarsministeriets fremtidige opgaveløsning i Arktis, 2016, p. 107. In other words: the Danish Defence Forces have based their SAR-scenario, and consequently their capacities, on the assumption that the above described legal prophylaxis for passenger ships with more than 250 passengers would be efficient.
This means that the capacities in Greenland are not based on a scenario where a large cruise ship with thousands of passengers and crew is in a state of distress. Consequently, Arctic Command has limited units at its disposal. The most relevant units are inspection ships (Thetis class; typically, two ships available at any one time), ship-based helicopters (on board a Thetis class ship; typically, one helicopter available at any time), inspection ships (Knud Rasmussen class; typically one or two ships available at any time), inspection cutter TULUGAQ8, Challenger and C-130 Hercules plane (only for periods of time). Arctic Command has also helicopter emergency services at its disposal, which are outsourced to Air Greenland. The helicopter emergency services consist of two rescue helicopters, stationed at Kangerlussuaq and in Qaqortoq or Narsarsuaq.(6) Forsvarsministeriet, Forsvasministeriets fremtidige opgaveløsning i Arktis, 2016, p. 89 ff. In the case of life-threatening situations, the agreement with Air Greenland provides access to all helicopters and planes of Air Greenland’s Fleet, however these are not configured for or have training status for carrying out SAR operations. Greenland Police have four police cutters with a fixed crew of 5–6 persons. Some of the exercises that have been carried out in the Artic area have shown that Arctic Command lacks sufficient manpower in a number of areas in relation to carrying out a comprehensive rescue action over a longer period of time. The main challenges are:
Supply and logistics elements in the airports etc., for example, evacuation capacity and access to fuel.
Press, information and contact access
Call Centre function, which can receive calls and enquiries from close family members, etc. in connection with major incidents.
Another challenge is a lack of access to comprehensive aerial views and a lack of accurate nautical charts. JRCC and the rescue units are not connected digitally, which results in a lack of awareness of each other’s positions, the situation, search patterns, etc. between JRCC and the rescue units.(7) The above information is based in interviews conducted during the period from February 2017 until August 2017, see fodnote 61.. See also Hanna Rasmussen & Birgit Feldtmann, Safe Navigation of Cruise Ships in Greenlandic Waters – Legal Frame and Practical Challenges International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation (TransNav) Vol. 14, nr.1 2020, page 208 f. and Skibsfartens og Luftfartens Redningsråd; SAR Grønland, Eftersøgnings- og redningstjenesten i Grønland.