Indian Coast Guard commissions Samudra Paheredar PCV

The Indian Coast Guard (ICGS) has commissioned its second of the three Pollution Control Vessels (PCV) Samudra Paheredar at Hazira port near Surat, Gujarat, India.

The ABG Shipyard-built PCV is 95m-long and can cruise at a maximum speed of 20.5k and has an endurance of 6500nm.

The 4300t ICGS Samudra Paheredar features most advanced and sophisticated pollution response and control equipment for mitigating oil spills and is capable of supporting pollution response missions at sea.

Capable of unhindered oil recovery operations, the PCV is integrated with containment equipment such as hi-sprint booms and river booms, recovery devices like skimmers and side sweeping arms in addition to inflatable barges and storage tank capacity of 500KL.

Additional features of the PCV include modern Integrated Platform Management System and Power Management System to support unmanned machinery operations as well as Dynamic Positioning System for fire fighting and pollution response operations.

In addition to an infra-red surveillance system for night surveillance, the Samudra Paheredar is armed with a 30mm CRN 91 Gun with fire control system to conduct multi tasks such as surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue and medical evacuation.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma said that the PCV is expected to meet the critical requirement of capacity building in the area of pollution response.

Several far-reaching initiatives were underway to bridge the Coast Guard’s capabilities gab, Verma added.

ICGS Samudra Paheredar is scheduled for post commissioning at Visakhapatnam under the administrative and operational control of the Commander, Coast Guard Region (East).