News

19.07.18

Projects Coastal Division

Even in high summer, our coast guard partners keep busy, as proven by Coastal Division. One of their most crucial core tasks is the protection of the population against the forces of the sea, storms surge and flooding.
Basic infrastructure in the coastal harbours of Nieuwpoort, Oostende, Blankenberge and Zeebrugge is also maintained by the division.
Did you know that you can find an overview of all ongoing projects on the Coastal Division website? There you can also admire all the completed works and see which ones are planned for the near furture.

www.afdelingkust.be
05.07.18

Belgian Coast Guard leading in the international fight against air pollution above the sea

Since 2016 our coastguard partner Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS) has been using a so-called ‘sniffer’ sensor on board the Belgian Coastguard aircraft for the airborne monitoring of ship-source atmospheric pollution in the North Sea. With this innovative sensor ship emissions can be measured offshore and based on that the fuel sulphur content of ships can be calculated. This enables a more effective monitoring of ship emission standards and the identification of potential offenders.

Our country is a real pioneer in this activity. We already co-operate with the Netherlands, and other North Sea countries are also considering following our example. This monitoring programme does not only arouse a lot of interest within the EU, our approach even attracted great attention in Canada and China! The international interest motivates the scientists of the Belgian aerial surveillance to continue to strive for a joint, strengthened enforcement of atmospheric pollution from ships.

www.naturalsciences.be
03.07.18

1 year BE-alert

On June 13th 2018, it was officially the first anniversary of BE-Alert. BE-Alert is an initiative of our coast guard partner Crisis centre of the Federal Public Service Interior. It is a system to help the Belgian municipalities and cities alert their citizens quickly during an emergency situation. The results after one year prove promising: 407 municipalities have joined, during 46 emergency situations BE-Alert was used to notify the citizens, and the national database counts already more than 330.000 registred addresses. The crisis centre still wishes to extend this system. That is why a big-scale alert test will be organized July 5th.

www.crisiscentrum.be
25.06.18

Tidal Data 2019

Can't wait to check the tidal data for next year? Thanks to our coast guard partner Coastal Division you can already find the tidal data for 2019 for Nieuwpoort, Ostend, Blankenberge, Zeebrugge, Vlissingen, Prosperpolder, Antwerpen and Wintam at http://www.afdelingkust.be/nl/getij.
25.06.18

Boatman's certificate for pleasure craft

Secretary of State for the North Sea Philippe De Backer wishes to introduce a boatman's certificate, as is the case on inland waters, for large or fast pleasure craft on the North Sea to guarantee safety .If you wish to go sailing on the North Sea with a vessel whose lenght exceeds 15 metres or whose speed exceeds 20 kilometres per hour, you are obliged to prove that you can sail by obtaining a cerificate.
There will be a transitional period and exceptions may be made for jetski's. All certificates that have been obtained before, remain valid. Holders of a certificate do not need to obtain a new certificate.
These plans form part of the pleasure craft reform. Earlier, the rules for commercial pleasure craft were already simplified.

http://www.philippedebacker.com/
11.06.18

Pré Guardex exercise

April 25th and 26th several our coast guard partners held a joint exercise in the Belgian part of the North Sea. The so - called pré-guardex exercise must prepare our coast guard partners for a large-scale Guardex exercise that will take place in October of this year. The Guardex exercise is scheduled alongside the summit meeting of the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum and next to the Belgian coast guard partners, other international assets will also participate.

The first day of the exercise, April 25th, was dedicated to safety at sea. Different aspects were trained: Search and Rescue operations, anti-pollution techniques, deploying medical teams at sea and bringing victims ashore. The focus of the second day, April 26th, was on security at sea, with the simulation of a terrorist attack.

Pictures PréGuardex
17.01.18

Kick-off meeting Norther

Thursday January 11th, 2018 the secretaries Coast Guard were present at a kick-off meeting regarding the Norther offshore windpark, together with various coast guard partners. The meeting was presided by Captain Gyssens of the Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre (MRCC) of our coast guard partner Shipping Assistance Division. In the spring of this year, construction of the wind farm will begin so as to be operational in 2019. After completion, the wind farm will have an installed power of 350 Megawatts and will be the biggest offshore project in Belgium. It will be built at approximately 22 kilometres from the Belgian coast, within a zone southeast of the Thornton Bank, alongside the border with the Netherlands and will provide sustainable energy for about 350 000 households.
22.11.17

Belgium is to host NACGF in 2018

In October 2017 the Coast Guard secretary, together with a representative of our coast guard partner Defence took part in the summit meeting of the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum (NACGF). The NACGF is a non-binding, voluntary forum founded in 2007. It counts 20 member states from the North - Atlantic region, including Belgium. Its main purpose is to promote and facilitate cooperation and to exchange information on best practices and experiences. The Coast Guard secretariat is the national point of contact for the NACGF. Chairmanship rotates per year among the participating countries and an annual theme is decided upon. There are seven working groups covering different themes (fishery, migration, SAR,...). Every year, in spring, there is an expert meeting followed by a plenary meeting in autumn, which all heads of delegations attend.

The summit meeting this year took place in Dublin, Ireland where Belgium offially accepted the chairmanship for next year. The expert meetings will be held in March 2018 and the summit meeting in October 2018, both in the seaside town of Ostend.
25.10.17

Export cable Rentel brought ashore

October 1st 2017, the Rentel offshore wind concession brought its export cable ashore in Zeebruges. This cable will transport the energy induced on the Rentel windfarm to shore. With the landfall of this export cable, Rentel will be the first windfarm connected to the new high voltage station “Stevin”, in Zeebruges.

The cable, with a length of 40 kilometers, was placed within a dredged trench on the seabed by a cable laying vessel. A cable laying barge took over in the shallow waters 6 kilometer before the coast and brought the cable ashore. The installation of the last 450 meters of cable on the beach was done by means of mobile cranes. Dredgers filled the trench, thus burying the cable in the seabed.

The Rentel project is located approximately 40 km from Ostend, and is the fifth offshore windproject in the Belgian North Sea. It will comprise 42 Siemens turbines and will deliver renewable energy to 300.000 households. The windfarm should be operational by mid-2018. The coast guard partners monitor the developments in the working group windfarms.
23.10.17

Vacancies VLIZ - projectmanager and science officer

Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) is looking for a project manager (m/f, 100% employment, permanent contract) and a science officer (m/f, 100% employment, permanent contract) for the Data Centre division.
Send in your cover letter and CV no later than 3 November 2017.

More information: www.vliz.be

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