SAFE SEAWAYS

Coastal Management - Maritime Safety - Preparedness

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MARITIME TRANSPORT – OF

KEY IMPORTANCE

Why is the Norwegian Coastal Administration’s work important?• Norway has the longest coastline in Europe,

rugged climate and pristine nature.• Around 80% of Norway’s population lives less

than 10 kilometres from the coast.

Maritime transport is commercially important for Norway: • Around 70% of imported goods (measured by

weight) arrive by ship.• Around 35% of all domestic cargo transport

(measured by weight) is transported by ship.• There are around 55,000 commercial ship

movements with pilots or PECs per year. • There are approximately 600,000 leisure boats

along our coast. • Norway’s most important industries operate

in coastal and maritime areas within oil, gas, fishing and aquaculture.

The Norwegian Coastal Admini-stration (NCA) is the government agency responsible for coastal management, maritime safety and emergency response to acute pollution.

To make our coast and waters the safest and cleanest in the world.

VISION:

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OUR RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

• Fairways• Aids to Navigation services• Pilot services• Vessel traffic services, navigational warnings and reporting and

information services• Coastal zone management and maritime transport planning• National fishing ports • National preparedness for acute pollution• Emergency towing services• Port facility security (ISPS)

Our activities derive from the National Transport Plan (NTP), issued by the Norwegian Government. We also perform statutory and administrative duties in relation to the Harbour Act, Pilotage Act, parts of the Pollution Control Act and Svalbard Environmental Protection Act, as well the r egulations pursuant to these acts.

We continually cooperate with a wide range of other public agencies with interlinking responsibilities.

Maritime transport is international in its nature and much of the standards and regulations governing maritime issues are developed internationally. The Norwegian Coastal Administration participates actively in the work of relevant international bodies to promote high standards within maritime safety and pollution preparedness response. The most important are International Maritime Organisation (IMO – the United Nations’ maritime agency), the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA - the EU’s specialised maritime agency), the EU’s Committee for Maritime Security (MARSEC), and the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA).

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The NCA is headed by the Director General. Our head office is the agency directorate. The NCA includes regional offices and a total of close to 1000 employees. Our employees possess solid, wide-ranging expertise.

Our services are partly user financed and partly funded through the national budget. The NCA’s duties are assigned to us through the national budget and an annual allocation

issued by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The NCA has the following specialist departments: Coastal management, Maritime safety and Preparedness for acute pollution. We also have a department handling national Pilot Services, and our own shipping company administering and executing entrepreneurial work in our fairways.

ORGANISATION

SVALBARD

HONNINGSVÅG

ÅLESUND

HAUGESUND

ARENDAL

HORTEN

TROMSØ

KABELVÅG

BERGEN

NCA Head Office

NCA Head Office, Horten

Centre for Emergency Preparedness

Regional offices

Shipping company administration

Vessel traffic services

Maritime pilotage stations

Emergency preparedness equipment depot

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Developing and maintaining fairways and fishing ports We install new aids to navigation, maintain existing ones, deepen fairways and remove underwater skerries. The NCA is also responsible for the construction of new state-owned fishing ports and breakwaters, and the upgrades or expansions of existing ones. We also administer the national subsidy scheme for local authority fishing port development. The supervision and maintenance of almost 800 state-owned fishing ports (150 of which are active fishing ports) is also a major task.

AquacultureThe Harbour Act delegate responsibility for all aquaculture related matters to the NCA. This includes ensuring that fish farming facilities are not sited in locations that hinder navigabil-ity and safe vessel traffic.

The NCA is responsible for ensuring that Norway’s fairways are safe and navi gable. This includes both long term and comprehensive perspectives.

COASTAL MANAGEMENT

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Our main focus is on the prevention of accidents and incidents through providing a wide range of services to seafarers. These include:

Lighthouse and Aids to Navigation servicesWe ensure that fairways have the necessary navigation aids. The main purpose is to mark out primary and secondary fairways, obstacles near the fairways and dangers to safe naviga-tion in general.

We install new aids to navigation, and maintain:

• 111 lighthouse stations • 1 900 sector lights• 3 700 lantern lights (lateral)• 15 000 permanent navigation aids without light

Pilot servicesThe job of a pilot is to provide a vessel’s crew with local knowledge of the fairways, to help ensure safe and efficient maritime transport. Pilot services are available 24/7 all along our coastline. Near 300 pilots with local knowledge have been specially trained to navigate within their certified areas. Pilot services are 100% financed by user fees. The competent pilotage authority is administered by Department of Maritime Safety whilst the operative service is taken care of by the NCA Pilot Services.

Vessel Traffic ServiceThe NCA operates the Norwegian Vessel Traffic Service (VTS). Its primary goal is to improve maritime safety and protect the environment in coastal zones. Our five VTS centres are located in Fedje, Kvitsøy, Brevik,

Studies and transport planningOur agency commissions studies and plans of importance for navigability, safety and commercial development in coastal zones.

National Transport Plan (NTP) The government draws up its long term transport policy in the National Transport Plan (NTP). This is the key tool to plan and govern all means of transportation in a comprehen-sive perspective. The NCA and other transport agencies present the technical basis for the government’s transport policy. Derived from this, the NCA’s action program is drawn up. It describes the main features and priorities of the work that will be carried out during the plan period, and provides the basis for annual budget plans.

Property and cultural heritage managementOn behalf of the Norwegian government the NCA manages property of cultural and historic importance. Many of these represent milestones in the development of our maritime infrastructure, of key importance in the building of Norway as a modern nation.

MARITIME SAFETY

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Horten and Vardø. They monitor maritime traffic along the entire coast and provide a 24-hour service to shipping in their dedicated areas. The centres prevent incidents on a daily basis, by providing advice to maritime traffic, monitoring ship movements, identifying and registering ship movements and deviations, and by providing warnings and taking action when needed.

Reporting and information servicesThe NCA operates a number of reporting and information services for vessels. We distribute information vital for safe navigation: ice reports, wave-, wind- and current forecasts as well as real-time measurements. Vessels carrying hazardous cargos and vessels that represent an elevated risk of pollution are monitored.

The SafeSeaNet Norway reporting serviceThe NCA operates the national SafeSeaNet reporting service – a web-based reporting system which offers a single-window acces to all required ship reporting to Norwegian authorities and ports. The information is forwarded to a number of other government agencies, as well as port operators and EU partners.

Automatic Identification System (AIS)AIS is an anti-collision system that enables ships to see other ships that are close by, as well as their speed and course.

Our agency provides the national shore-based AIS network. This network covers, with some exceptions, the area from the sea boundary and 40-60 nautical miles from the coast, and receives automatic AIS reports from vessels within the area covered. We also operate two AIS satellites, which allow us to monitor ship movements in ocean areas as well.AIS is a key tool used by the authorities to monitor and regulate maritime traffic. It is also utilized during emergency response to oil spills, and also in maritime search and rescue missions.

Port facility security (ISPS)The NCA is responsible for implementing international regulations for protecting ports and port terminals. This includes:• Supervising ports or port terminal’s compliance with the regulations• Developing national regulations and guidelines• Receiving and following up security incidents 24/7• Determining maritime security levels in ports and port terminals• Approving port terminals security plan allowing them to accept international shipping• Approving ports’ vulnerability assessments and security plans

600 port terminals are currently covered by these regulations.

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The NCA is responsible for managing and developing national preparedness for acute pollution, both on land and at sea. Norwegian law enforces a “polluter pays” policy, meaning that polluters are financially responsible for clean-up costs.

Three parties are responsible for preparedness for acute pollution in Norway:1) Private, 2) local and 3) national emergency response teams

In the event of pollution, the NCA will supervise the polluter’s response. If the private or local authority response teams involved are insufficient, we can assume control of the response. In such circum-stances, the private, local authority and national response teams will fight the pollution together, under our leadership. In other cases, the NCA can assist a polluter with their response with advice and equipment.

In the event of unwanted incidents, we have cooperation agreements concerning assistance with other authorities and national and international organisations. The NCA’s

Centre for Preparedness is on duty 24/7 to receive and process any reports concerning risk of acute pollution or incidents that involve acute pollution. Together with our partners, we conduct a number of oil spill exercises each year in order to maintain and improve the preparedness system.

ShipwrecksThe NCA maintains an overview of shipwrecks that sank after 1914, which are larger than 100 gross registered tonnes. We monitor these wrecks and evaluate whether or not they represent a potential risk of pollution. The NCA can instruct owners of shipwrecks to take steps to prevent them from representing a risk to maritime safety or a potential source of acute pollution.

Emergency towing serviceWe also manage the national emergency towing service. This involves stationing towing vessels in areas where the environmental risk is high and where there are few local commercial actors. The towing vessels are there to prevent accidents and harm to the environment. Emergency towing services have been established in Northern Norway, Southern Norway and Western Norway.

PREPAREDNESS

KYSTVERKET

Phone +47 07847

Postboks 1502

6025 Ålesund

post@kystverket.no

www.kystverket.no

www.facebook.com/kystverket

Photo: N

ils Harald Ånstad, Frode P

ilskog/Kystverkm

usea, Gro K

ibsgaard-Petersen, H

elge Skodvin, Kongsberg N

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