Is the Arctic Prepared for a Large-Scale Cruise Ship Incident?
A panel on the first day of the Arctic Emergency Management Conference asked the question "Are We Prepared for a Large-scale Cruise Ship Incident in the High Arctic?". From the left: Jens Heine Grauen Larsen, Ministry of Defence Denmark; Karen Pletnikoff, Aleut International Association; PAtti Bruns, Secretary General, Arctic Mayors' Forum and Tore Hongset, Joint Rescue Coordination Centre North Norway.
Bodø, Northern Norway (High North News): Cruise tourism is ever-growing in the Arctic, but is the region prepared for a large-scale cruise ship incident? The short answer is no, but we're getting there, says preparedness experts at the Arctic Council's Arctic Emergency Management Conference.
Last week, the Arctic Council organized the Arctic Emergency Management Conference in Bodø, Northern Norway. One of the main topics of the conference was maritime safety in the Arctic region.
Search and rescue operations in the Arctic rely heavily on local communities, their resources, and their volunteers. The challenges search and rescue responders must overcome range from large distances, harsh weather conditions, and scarcity of resources to the emotional toll on local volunteers.
One question posed at the preparedness conference in Bodø was whether the Arctic is prepared for a large-scale cruise ship incident. The short answer was no, but we're getting there. As cruise tourism continues to increase in the Arctic, the scale of a search and rescue operation in case of an incident involving these ships is greater than the region can manage.
The Viking Sky incident
To illustrate the magnitude of a cruise ship incident, the presenters referred to the Viking Sky incident in 2019, in which a cruise ship was less than a ship's length from running aground during a storm in Hustadvika, Norway, after an engine failure. The ship had 1373 passengers, including crew members, and the weather conditions were too poor to utilize any lifeboats.
At most, six helicopters were evacuating passengers. Over the 18 hours the helicopters operated, they evacuated 466 of the persons onboard, roughly 1/3.
The ship was eventually able to get its engines running again, and no lives were lost in the incident.
However, the rapid response and resources available during this incident are only pipe dreams for the Arctic.
Had such an incident happened in the North, the distances would increase, the number of people and on-land facilities would be fewer, and the evacuation line for the evacuees would be much longer. Mustering six helicopters would also be nearly impossible.
Remote areas and limited resources
A significant concern with large-scale incidents in rural areas of the Arctic is the scarcity of resources. As tourists are drawn to untouched nature and wilderness, a possible incident will not occur in close proximity to the Arctic's 'larger' cities but rather to small local communities that are not supplied with resources on a weekly basis.
A large-scale incident could, therefore, drain a rural Arctic community of its resources very quickly.
"Cruise ships may be coming to communities that already have other things going on. One of the expectations that communities should have of cruise operators is not only adherence to all safety standards but also regularized communications with the local community, local and tribal authorities," said Patti Bruns, Secretary General, Arctic Mayors' Forum.
"That is all about visiting a region and knowing something about it," she said, particularly referring to communities that get their supplies once a year.
"If there ever were to be a cruise accident in the high Arctic, it would completely wipe out supplies of communities, and there needs to be some sort of mechanism in place so that those communities can be resupplied."
Alaska journalist Emily Schwing at Koahnic Broadcasting emphasized that when she reports from rural communities in Alaska, she never stays longer than four days, and she brings her own food to avoid exhausting the community's resources.
Cultural heritage, food security, emergency preparation, tourism and transportation all play a role in the dramatic changes coastal communities in the American Arctic are experiencing. Award-winning Alaska-based Journalist Emily Schwing presented some of her work exploring the local impacts and local efforts to plan and prepare for the future.
Indigenous knowledge
Another factor to consider is that Indigenous peoples will often be the first responders in the event of a crisis.
"Our communities are at the front lines of these things," said Karen Pletnikoff from the Aleut International Association.
She also highlighted that cruise tourism must protect Indigenous resources, such as marine mammals.
"Marine mammal avoidance is of huge interest to our Indigenous communities. Are cruise operators visiting our region in a way that prevents narwhal interaction or harm and protects communities' subsistence and opportunities?" she says, adding that marine mammal activity can harm the vessel's operations and seaworthiness as well.
Learning from Indigenous communities was frequently referred to as one of the key factors of preparedness and emergency management throughout the conference.
