Chennai welcomes Samudra Pahredar

Chennai:

The marine pollution response capabilities of Indian Coast Guard in Eastern fleet got strengthened with the induction of state-of-the art Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Samudra Paheredar.

The 90 metre long indigenously built ship, which is second of its class, was given a warm welcome at Chennai port on Tuesday after being commissioned in July at Surat in Gujarat. It will be based at Visakhapatnam under the operational and administrative control of the commander of coast guard region (east).

Speaking during a ceremony to welcome the ship here on Tuesday, Commander of Coastguard region (East) Inspector General S P Sharma said that the ship’s primary role is pollution response at the exclusive economic zone of India.

“More than 70 per cent needs are fulfilled by import of crude oil and the region has high density tanker traffic posing threat of oil spill. This ship is equipped with the most advanced and sophisticated pollution response and control equipment for mitigating oil spills,” he said. These include containment equipment like hi-sprint booms and river booms, recovery devices like skimmers and side sweeping arms.

“It is capable of unhindered oil recovery operations with storage tank capacity of 500 kilo litres in addition to inflatable barges. It has a maximum speed of 20.5 knots and has an endurance for 6,500 nautical miles and can stay at sea for 20 days without replenishment ,” Sharma said.

He said the ship is installed with modern integrated platform management system and power management system, which makes it unique for unmanned machinery operations. It is also fitted with dynamic positioning system for fire fighting and pollution response operations and an infra-red surveillance system for night surveillance.

It also is armed with a 30 mm CRN 91 gun with fire control system and capable of operating one twin-engine advanced light helicopter or Chetak helicopter. In addition to its designed role, the ship, which has a strength of 111 personnel, including 11 officers, can be deployed for multifarious tasks such as surveillance, interdiction, search & Rescue and medical evacuation.