Marine Rescue NSW enhances statewide flood support capability

Marine Rescue NSW has delivered three new multi-purpose vessels to units in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and South Coast.

The vessels form part of Marine Rescue NSW’s response to recommendations from the 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry with the Service receiving $3.748 million State Government funding to build capability and capacity to support NSW SES and other agencies during significant emergencies.

Marine Rescue NSW has developed a fleet of multi-purpose vessels (MPVs), which at the request of NSW SES can be deployed quickly across NSW in the event of a weather emergency. When they are not required for flood rescue and support, they will be housed at units across NSW and used to assist boaters on local waterways. Marine Rescue NSW now has seven MPVs in operation with a further one under construction.

The Marine Rescue Port Kembla, Shoalhaven and Tuross Moruya units have each taken delivery of new 6 metre, bow loading, Suzuki powered multi-purpose vessels after volunteers were inducted on the boats at Lake Illawarra.

Marine Rescue NSW Capability Manager Dave Bowing said the Service now has 100 volunteers who are endorsed to be deployed with assets at the request of NSW SES.

“When the SES have a requirement for search capacity or any other operational response requirement in relation to flood, they’ll contact Marine Rescue NSW and we will assemble the required number of crews and vessels and supporting assets and send them out wherever they may be required.

“They can be responded locally or they can go right up north to Lismore, right down south to Eden or further afield West out to Deniliquin, even as far as Broken Hill, anywhere in New South Wales,” Bowing said.

Marine Rescue NSW’s Southern Zone currently has 26 endorsed volunteers with a further 40 still undergoing training.

Marine Rescue NSW Fleet Manager Kelvin Parkin said the vessels delivered to the Southern Zone are all six metres long, feature Raymarine nine-inch multi-function displays, radio communications and are powered by twin Suzuki 90 horsepower outboard engines capable of reaching up to 40 knots.

“These vessels are really comfortable cruising around that 20 knot mark, which is all we need for getting into those remote areas and isolated places.

“The draft on these boats is only point-three, so it’s very shallow and will allow us to get into areas that we’ve never been able to access before,” he said.

Parkin said the bow-loading door is also a vital feature especially when providing flood support.

“The utility capability of this vessel allows us to carry multiple things, whether it’s restocking remote communities, evacuating large groups of people, livestock and feed for those animals, we’ve got plenty of space on the deck that we can actually load up and transport quite easily,” he said.

The Shoalhaven (MR 24) and Tuross Moruya (MR 25) units are each receiving Sentinel built vessels, which Parkin said, are different to boats traditionally built for the Service.

“MR 24 and MR 25 have a high density polyethylene hull, so very thick plastic, they are pretty much unbreakable and recyclable.

“The development of these vessels is going to change how we look at building boats in the future for different circumstances,” he said.

Marine Rescue Port Kembla will house MR 27, which was built by Moda Marine in Newcastle.

Marine Rescue NSW Illawarra Inspector Stuart Massey said the addition of the MPVs to the Service’s fleet would see units use them for general operations when not tasked by the NSW SES.

“These boats will be out on Lake Illawarra, in the Shoalhaven River and out at Tuross doing business as usual patrols and assisting boaters on our waterways.

“The shallow draft on these vessels means that they can get into areas that our other vessels normally couldn’t, so these vessels are 365 day a year assets for Marine Rescue NSW.

“The assets will be used every day, anytime that we’re requested to go out and assist somebody, these vessels will be tasked to go out should they be the appropriate vessel for the job,” he said.

Inspector Massey said the vessel induction for volunteers from the Port Kembla, Shoalhaven and Tuross Moruya units was extremely thorough.

“The training that we give our volunteers is comprehensive; it needs to be to make sure that we’re operating in a safe environment for them and also for the members of the public that we’re going out to assist.

“We do everything that we can to make sure that the induction is thorough and they understand fully how the vessels operate and also how they manoeuvrer because quite often it is the close quarters manoeuvring that is the difficult thing to master,” he said.

Marine Rescue NSW is a volunteer based not-for-profit professional organisation dedicated to keeping boaters safe on the water and supporting local communities.