“We consider this summary of possible places of refuge and grounding as an important and precautionary tool if accidents should occur,” says adviser Ole Hansen in the NCA Department of Emergency Response.

In many situations the alternative to tow the damaged ship to a place of refuge or grounding would be preferred to allowing the polluting cargo to leak at sea, which could lead to the pollution of vast coastal areas.

More efficient operations
The lists of together 69 possible places of refuge and 62 possible places for grounding will aid the effort of making faster and more accurate decisions during a rescue operation, thereby increasing the efficiency level of the operation. The lists are continuously renewed. In light of the constant dynamics of ship traffic, as well as the gathering of new information about the sea and its environment, the status of places of refuge and grounding could be altered at any given time.

“We will save time and money, as well as reduce the risk of damages if we on an early stage develop thorough analyses that tell us how vulnerable the coastal areas are, how suited the areas are for navigation, how protected they are in terms of weather, wind and current, and whether there are services such as farming facilities in the area,” Hansen adds.

He further stresses that any operation is unique and that using an eventual place of refuge and/or grounding must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. 

The difference between a place of refuge and grounding is the pre-calculated assumption that a ship can be towed ashore to prevent it from sinking in a place of grounding, in contrast to a place of refuge. As the lists show, however, many of the alternatives give you the option of choosing one or the other.

International harmonization
The Norwegian Coastal Directorate has been assigned by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs to develop a procedure for handling situations where it would be applicable to order a vessel to a place of refuge or grounding. The procedure has been reviewed by relevant authorities that are responsible for initiating these emergency measures. The procedure has been harmonized in adherence to the guidelines of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which relate to the handling of vessels in distress, and these procedures have become Norway’s answer to the EU 2002/59 Directive, Article 20 “Places of refuge”.

The procedure and action guidelines were approved by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs 28 February 2004.
Left: Map of places of refuge along the Norwegian coastline. Right: Map of places for grounding.