The video which is part of a series on IMO in the polar environment, focuses on search and rescue (SAR) in polar regions and takes a closer look at the challenges of search and rescue operations in these inhospitable polar regions.
This film series aims to illustrate how IMO supports safe and environmentally-friendly shipping in the Arctic and Antarctic waters.
Under the SAR Convention, adopted by IMO in 1979, a network of rescue coordination centres and sub-centres has been established, which cover all the world’s oceans. Chile is responsible for one of the most extensive SAR regions, that includes a large area of Antarctica, and shares responsibility with Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa.
The centre, which is the only SAR coordination and pollution prevention centre in Antarctica, supports also scientific activities, such as providing weather information to the ships operation in Antarctic Peninsula.
Further, IMO’s Polar Code, that entered into force on 1 January 2017, sets out mandatory standards that cover the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training and environmental protection matters for ships making polar voyages.