Chennai welcomed Samudra Paheredar, the 90-metre-long indigenously-built Indian Coast Guard’s pollution control vessel, which will enhance marine pollution response capabilities of the Indian Coast Guard in Eastern fleet.
The vessel, which is second of its class, was given a warm welcome at Chennai port on Tuesday after being commissioned in July at Surat in Gujarat. It will be based in Visakhapatnam under the control of the commander of Coast Guard region (East).
Speaking on the occasion, Commander of Coast Guard region (East) Inspector General S P Sharma said that the ship’s primary role is pollution response at the exclusive economic zone of India.
“More than 70 per cent needs are fulfilled by the import of crude oil and the region has high density tanker traffic, posing a threat of oil spills. This ship is equipped with the most advanced and sophisticated pollution response and control equipment for mitigating oil spills,” he explained. “It is capable of unhindered oil recovery operations with a storage tank capacity of 500 kilo litres, in addition to inflatable barges. It has a maximum speed of 20.5 knots and has an endurance for 6,500 nautical miles and can stay at sea for 20 days without replenishment ,” Sharma added.
He said the ship is fitted with a dynamic positioning system for fire fighting and pollution response operations and an infra-red surveillance system for night surveillance.
It also is armed with a 30 mm CRN 91 gun with a fire control system. In addition to its designed role, the ship, which has a strength of 111 personnel, including 11 officers, can be deployed for tasks including surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue.
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