Partners sign cooperation agreement

Wednesday 23 November the MIRG-EX project held its final conference in Bruges, Belgium. During the conference the audience was drawn into the world of maritime safety.

The project partners explained the concept of MIRG and looked back at the Full Scale Exercise which was held in October. With two case studies the importance of MIRGs was highlighted. The conference ended with the conclusion that the Full Scale Exercise and the MIRG-EX project were a positive development. They contributed to the further development and preparedness by providing a learning opportunity on various response levels and considered joint maritime incident response.

The end of the MIRG-EX project does not mean the end of the cooperation. In order to gain full benefit from the time, money, and resources that all stakeholders invested, it is vital that every potential learning opportunity is used from this event.

This conclusions was underlined by representatives of the four partner countries. They signed an agreement for future cooperation in Maritime Safety.

MIRG EX is an international joint partnership. Safety Region Zeeland (NL), which brings together crisis management, fire fighters and medical assistance, is lead partner. The other partners in the project are: the Fire Brigades of Antwerp, Beveren and Ghent (BE). These brigades are linked to important international ports, that accommodate large chemical production plants. Being able to effectively fight fires on board ships is simply essential. In addition to the fire brigades, the Federal Organisation of Public Civil Assistance in Brugge, the Agency for Maritime and Coastal Services-Shipping Assistance Division and the Maatschappij van de Brugse Zeehaven nv (Zeebrugge Port Authority) are partners in the MIRG-EX project. The French Service départemental d’incendie et de secours de Pas-de-Calais and the English Kent Fire and Rescue Service complete the partnership. Both are confronted with heavy traffic on the Channel and the North Sea. An incident may be just around the corner, but this doesn’t mean it can be easily reached let alone be dealt with. Working with similar teams on both shores, reduces will help to reduce response time.

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