Tallink Silja Line's instructors participated in the first-ever full-scale sea rescue joint exercise with the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board and Tallinn SAR volunteer sea rescuers

  • 2024-10-27

On Thursday, 24 October 2024, in cooperation with Tallink Grupp, the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board and Tallinn SAR Voluntary Sea Rescue, the first tactical full scale sea rescue joint exercise took place, conducted in the offshore conditions on the Bay of Tallinn, organised for Tallink's maritime safety instructors. The tactical offshore sea rescue exercise was organised at the initiative of Tallink Grupp, led by the Estonian Police and Border Guard, in cooperation with Tallinn SAR Volunteer Sea Rescue team.

The aim of the tactical exercise was to practice and fine-tune the sea rescue skills of Tallink Silja Line safety instructors in as life-like conditions as possible, and to practice sea rescue cooperation with the partners of the joint exercise.

Twelve company’s sea rescue training instructors took part in the joint exercise who are working in positions of responsibility onboard Tallink Grupp’s vessels and who also hold positions of responsibility in the rescue teams in the ships’ crews. In cooperation with the partners of the joint exercise, a sea-level rescue exercise from life raft was conducted in the open sea in the Gulf of Tallinn, with the aim to practice their survival skills and first aid skills in dealing with hypothermia.

Commenting on the full-scale marine rescue exercise for Tallink Silja Line sea rescue instructors, Rasmus Leinsalu, Project Manager at the Tallink’s Training Centre, Tallink Grupp’s coordinator for the joint exercise and exercise participant, said:

"Marine safety is one of our most important priorities at Tallink Silja Line. According to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers , all crew members are obliged to pass regular safety courses, where they must demonstrate their skills as firefighters, evacuees, crisis managers and holders of rescue equipment.” 

“For many years, Tallink Training Centre has been training company’s safety and rescue teams both independently and in cooperation with our good partners. Our training centre’s skilled instructors work full-time on our ships on a daily basis, so they have a clear understanding of their responsibility to prepare our crews to the fullest, which is why this joint training was indeed a very useful, realistic and practical way to fine-tune the competencies of our instructors."

"Normally, our exercises take place in controlled conditions and in good weather, but this time, we decided to test our experienced instructors in even more trying conditions, in order to hone our survival skills in the most realistic conditions possible on the high seas."

"A total of twelve instructors from different Tallink Silja Line ships, including several captains and chief officers, a mechanic, a senior security guard and a purser, participated in this intensive tactical exercise. Firstly, we underwent an exercise, where we were floating in the sea without our special training suits, wearing only light clothing, and were able to experience first-hand what it feels to experience cold water conditions, how to act in and out of the water when dealing with hypothermia and how to help others who are hypothermic. Having completed that, we then went on to rehearsing on the high seas a scenario whereby we were distressed at sea, abandoned ship, swam into the life raft, and had to apply our survival skills there in distress until help arrived, followed by a sea rescue situation exercise from the surface by rescue boat in near darkness.“

“Considering that the exercise took place in the cold autumn weather, with the sea and water temperatures ranging around ten degrees Celsius, and altogether we spent 4 hours at sea, including 1,5 hours spent in the life raft, waiting to be rescued, the emotions we experienced as participants, were indeed very close to the real-life distress situation. For me, as an experienced instructor, I can say, it was one of the most challenging exercises I have participated during my career. This intensive exercise gives our instructors an exceptionally realistic insight to the conditions of persons in distress, into rescue operations, and through our own life-like practical experience we will be able to better prepare our crew members for possible crisis situations and enhance our marine safety competencies and practice cooperation with our partners."

"The exercise was successful, and we would like to carry out similar full scale sea rescue exercises also in the future to further fine tune the sea rescue and survival skills of our crews. Next time, we would like to practice helicopter rescue from the life raft. I would like to thank my colleagues, Tallink Silja Line instructors, for their great stamina and teamwork and also our good partners in the joint exercise.”

In addition to Tallink Grupp’s safety instructors and Estonian Police and Border guard teams, volunteer rescuers of MTÜ Tallinn SAR Sea Rescue and Members of the Management Board of Tallinn SAR Andrus Poksi and Guido Peets, as well as the association's sea rescuers Gerhard Ossep and Martin Kukk, participated in the joint exercise. Tallink Grupp has been cooperating with Tallinn SAR Voluntary Sea Rescue for many years, including supporting volunteer sea rescuers with the acquisition of the necessary rescue equipment and jointly promoting children's sea rescue and self-rescue skills.