Yachting Monthly – May 2018

Colin Work

Nik Taylor / Alamy

MCA urges EPIRB registration despite delays

NEWS

Sailors are still being encouraged

to register their emergency position

indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs)

and personal locator beacons

(PLBs) despite warnings of delays.

The UK Coastguard recently urged

sailors to register their EPIRBs after

highlighting how the activation of

an unregistered EPIRB on a yacht

in Woodbridge, Suffolk, resulted in

‘a significant amount of Coastguard

resource’ being deployed, including

a helicopter crew, which could have

been avoided. Both the vessel and

the owner were eventually found

safe and well.

However, new customers are being

told by the Maritime and Coastguard

Agency’s (MCA) UK Distress &

Security Beacon Registry that it

will take up to 10 weeks or longer

to complete registration.

Priority is given to merchant and

fishing vessels, and sailors undertaking

solo or remote expeditions. UK

cruisers have told Yachting Monthly

that in some cases they have waited

18 months to receive confirmation

of their registration, and that delays

in registration have been happening

for years.

Boat owner Michael Crofts had

to wait 15 weeks for his registration

certificate. He is concerned delays

could hamper Search and Rescue

(SAR) efforts.

‘It doesn’t sound to me as though

the details of my vessel are recorded

against the EPIRB until they enter the

data on the system, in which case my

point stands: if the EPIRB is triggered,

Falmouth [and other monitoring

stations around the world] will receive

The UK Coastguard

says it is making

improvements to

its EPIRB and PLB

registration system

The UK Distress & Security Beacon Registry at Falmouth Coastguard

the signal but the SAR teams won’t

know what they are looking for.’

The MCA said the delay in

registration is due to the lower cost

and increasing popularity of satellite

distress beacons and changes in the

European Aviation Safety Agency

aircraft carriage requirements, which

has seen an extra 6,000 additional

registrations. The MCA admits their

system is also hampering efforts. Due

to security issues, customers do not

have direct access to the database.

The current online form is effectively

a pseudo registration, with the data

emailed to the team who then

manually type in the information.

‘Our IT branch is working on an

improved system including a customer

interface allowing customers to

input and update their own records.

This will alleviate the waiting times

by allowing the team to simply

verify entries,’ said the spokesman.

A spokesman for the MCA stressed

that ‘if the alert goes off and gives

a position within the UK Search and

Rescue area, HM Coastguard will

trigger the appropriate response.

‘If a real beacon alert is received

but is unregistered, it is still treated

as an alert and we’ll send whatever

is appropriate – lifeboats, helicopters

• to search across an area that the
  alert covers. It’s nothing to do with
  whether the beacon is registered.
  ‘The advantage of registration
  is that Operations will be more
  aware of the type of incident and
  have emergency contact details.
  However, the alert indicates the
  type of beacon – PLB or EPIRB –
  in addition to the positional data,
  giving an indication of usage.’
  To date, 100,000 beacons
  have been registered on the
  MCA’s database, with another
  2,500 waiting to be added.

If you have a news story to share, contact News Editor Katy Stickland

Email [email protected] Te l 01252 555 166