News

29.06.15

New embankment for coastal town Wenduine

Our coast guard partner Coastal Divison has been working hard on a brand new embankment in Wenduine for the past nine months.

The new embankment is safer, wider and more attractive. The town of Wenduine is now fully protected against superstorms as foreseen in the Masterplan Coastal safety.
See the website of Coastal Division for a film.
17.04.15

Pollution at sea 2014

Our coast guard partner Federal Science Policy has a surveillance aircraft for detecting illegal oil spills on the North Sea. Over the years, a decreasing trend in operational oil spills is observed. The figures for 2014 confirm this. On the other hand, the figures show that the number of operational spills of other harmful substances are increasing since a couple of years.

More information on op www.naturalsciences.be
16.04.15

EUCGFF Office in Brussels

As of March 27th 2015, the European Coast Guard Functions Forum (EUCGFF) office in Brussels is open. It is housed in the offices of Frontex.

The EUCGFF initiative was launched in 2009 with the aim to exchange information, establish networks and to streamline coast guard initiatives among the member states, including Belgium. The forum has a rotating charimanship and once a year there is a plenary conference.

Currently the focus is on the ongoing European Coast Guard Academies, Institutions, and Training Centres EU NETwork project (ECGFA), which seeks to establish a network to connect academies providing training for coast guard functions in Europe.

The next annual plenary conference will be held in September 2015 in Finland, the current chair.

More information: www.ecgff.eu
13.04.15

Expert meeting van het North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum in Rotterdam

From March 30th until April 2nd the expert meeting of the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Belgium was respresented by coast guard partners Fleet, Customs, federal Police and FPS Public Health (Directorate - general Environment).

Twenty member states take part in the NACGF, and the main goal is to facilitate cooperation and to exchange information on best practices and experiences. To that purpose, there are different working groups focusing on topics such as environmenal response, fishery, drug traficking, Search and REscue (SAR) etc. Each year, in spring, there is an expert meeting followed by a plenary meeting in autumn, which all heads of delegations attend.
23.02.15

Vacancy manager for the network of radar masts

Our coast guard partner Shipping Assistance Division is recruiting a manager for the network of radar masts. Apply before March 15th. More information on www.jobpunt.be
18.02.15

Information session salvage Baltic Ace

February 13th, there was an information session for the coast guard partners on the salvage of the Baltic Ace wreck.The project team working on the salvage presented their action plan. Preparations for hoisting the wreck are ongoing and April 1st will mark the start of the actual salvage activities. By the end of 2015 the wreck should be completely removed.
16.02.15

Workshop Contingency Plan for the North Sea

February 11th, a workshop on the renewed Contingency Plan for the North Sea took place in the naval base in Zeebrugge on the initiative of the governor of West-Flanders province. In total there were 120 participants, amongst whom the majority of our coast guard partners. The structure and organization of the prinicpal actors in the contingency plan were clarified and a panel discussion at the end of the day provided the audience with the opportunity to ask questions and to state their observations.
05.02.15

Meeting with secretary for the North Sea Bart Tommelein

Tuesday February 3rd the secretary for the North Sea invited the secretaries Coast Guard for a meeting. Several topics were discussed such as the project Coast Guard Centre and the plans for the foundation of a Task Force North Sea on a ministerial level.
02.02.15

First meeting of the steering group Coast Guard Centre

January 6th the governor of West-Flanders founded a steering group Coast Guard Centre.The governor chairs this group, whose members are the heads of the regional and federal authorities responsible for the Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre (MRCC) and the Maritime Security Centre Belgium (MIK), the secretaries Coast Guard and the MIK coordinator. The steering group will advise on long-term strategies, policies and procedures for the organization of a 24/7 coast guard centre.
02.02.15

Meeting Governor West-Flanders and federal chairman Coast Guard

The governor of West-Flanders, Carl Decaluwé, had a meeting with Alain Lefevre, the federal chairman of the coast guard who is also the acting director-general of FPS interior - crisis centre.Both of the Coast Guard secretaries also attended the meeting. Several topics were discussed such as the Coast Guard Centre project, the changes in the tasks allocated to the Civil PRotection and claimmanagement. They also talked about the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum for the year 2018, which will be organized by and held in Belgium.