Netherlands Coastguard

The Netherlands Coastguard (Dutch: Kustwacht Nederland) is civil organisation that carries out tasks on the Netherlands North Sea for six Ministries under administration of the Royal Netherlands Navy.^[4] Its operational command falls under the Ministry of Defence, and the Royal Netherlands Navy is responsible for its coordination.^[5]

Netherlands Coastguard Kustwacht Nederland
Netherlands Coast Guard emblem
Ensign
Racing stripe
Motto	Servamus Servientes
Agency overview
Formed	February 26, 1987
Annual budget	€64,258,000 (2020)[1]
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Netherlands
Constituting instrument	Regulation on organization of Netherlands Coastguard, 2019[2]
Specialist jurisdiction	Coastal patrol, marine border protection, marine search and rescue.
Operational structure
Elected officer responsible	Kajsa Ollongren, Minister of Defense
Agency executive	Nicole Kuipers[3], Director
Parent agency	Royal Netherlands Navy
Website
www.kustwacht.nl

Headquarters office is in Den Helder. Director is commander Nicole Kuipers.^[6]

History

While the Netherlands Coastguard was officially established on 26 February 1987,^[7] a less formal Dutch coastguard had been active since 1883. In 1882 the gunboat HNLMS Adder sunk off Scheveningen with the death of all 65 aboard. The public outcry that followed led to reforms, including an improved system of observing, reporting and assisting ships in distress off the coast, with better cooperation between lighthouses and government agencies.^[7]

After World War II the area that could be covered off-coast became larger with new technologies such as radar and better means of communication. At the same time, government desire to protect Dutch interests in the North Sea, such as fishery, and extraction of oil, gas, sand and gravel, led to each ministry establishing its own department with, at one point, over twenty government organisations at work off the Dutch coast. To stop this fragmentation, in 1984 Minister Smit-Kroes of Traffic and water management ordered a review to examine how to make guarding the coast of the Netherlands more efficient and effective. The results of this review were published in 1986 and led to the creation of a single coastguard agency, namely the Netherlands Coastguard.^[7]

Initially, the Coast Guard headquarters was housed in a building belonging to the coast radio station Scheveningen Radio [nl] in IJmuiden. In 1995 the Coast Guard was assigned to the Ministry of Defense and on 23 November 2001 the headquarters moved to the national Navy HQ in Den Helder.

Organisation

The Netherlands Coastguard carries out duties for six government ministries, these ministries are the:^[8]

• Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of Justice and Security
• Ministry of Finance
• Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy
• Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality

JRCC Den Helder

The Kustwachtcentrum (English: Coastguard Center) in Den Helder is also the Netherlands Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC Den Helder, Call DEN HELDER RESCUE). It coordinates not only sea rescue (MRCC) but also air rescue (ARCC). Emergency calls in the monitored area of the North Sea and the airspace of the Netherlands are recorded at all times. A back office, which has access to the various databases of the authorities involved, serves to support the front office. For the SAR services, the lifeboats of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij (KNRM) get coordinated.

Tasks

Netherlands Coastguard Dornier 228 arrives for the Royal International Air Tattoo, England, UK (2014)

The Coastguard tasks can be divided into Provision of service tasks and Law enforcement tasks.^[4]

• Provision of service tasks:
  • Monitoring, handling and coordinating national and international Distress, Urgency and Safety radio traffic;
  • Maritime assistance and Search and Rescue;
  • Limiting and dealing with the aftermath of disasters and incidents;
  • Wherever necessary, implementing vessel traffic services (buoys, vessel traffic service, instructions)
  • Maritime traffic research
  • Clearing out explosives
• Law enforcement tasks:
  • Maintaining law and order (police)
  • Monitoring import, export and transit of goods (customs)
  • Upholding laws regarding environment, sea fishing, nautical traffic, ships equipment and offshore activities
  • Border control

Equipment

Vessels

The Coast Guard has no vessels of its own, so resources are made available by the cooperating ministries and services^[9]

The Barend Biesheuvel Coast Guard vessel

The Arca is a multifunctional vessel

Zeearend Coast Guard vessel

Vessel	Origin	Type	Notes
P42	Netherlands	Patrol boat	Provided by the National Police Corps.
Osprey	Netherlands	Patrol boat	Provided by the National shipping company.
Bald Eagle	Netherlands	Patrol boat
Barend Biesheuvel	Netherlands	Patrol boat	Provided by the National shipping company.
Hellhole	Netherlands	Lifeboat	Provided by the Theunisse Salvage.
KBW1910	Netherlands	Lifeboat	Provided by the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution.
George Dijkstra	Netherlands	Lifeboat
Jeanine Parqui	Netherlands	Lifeboat
Koen Oberman	Netherlands	Lifeboat
Jan van Engelenburg	Netherlands	Lifeboat
Fury 3	Netherlands	Anchor tug	Provided by the Theunisse Salvage.
Fury 4	Netherlands	Anchor tug
Guardian	Netherlands	Anchor tug
Flystream	Netherlands	Buoy maintainer
Barge hole	Netherlands	Buoy maintainer
New Deep	Netherlands	Buoy maintainer	Provided by the National shipping company.
Terschelling	Netherlands	Buoy maintainer	Provided by the National shipping company.
Wadden Sea	Netherlands	Buoy maintainer	Provided by the National shipping company.
Frans Naerebout	Netherlands	Buoy maintainer	Provided by the National shipping company.
Waddenstroom	Netherlands	Multi-purpose vessel	Provided by the National shipping company.
Zirfea	Netherlands	Research vessel	Provided by the National shipping company.
Arca	Netherlands	Multi-purpose vessel	Provided by the National shipping company.
Zr.Ms. Willemstad	Netherlands	Mine sweeper	Provided by the Royal Netherlands Navy.

See also

• Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard

Footnotes

1. "KUSTWACHT NEDERLAND 2020" (PDF). Netherlands Coastguard. 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
2. Regeling organisatie Kustwacht Nederland [Regulation on organization of Netherlands Coastguard] (Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management and of the Minister of Defence IENW/BSK-2019/95910) (in Dutch). 2019.
3. "Directeur Kustwacht Nederland Nicole Kuipers". Netherlands Coastguard. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
4. "Netherlands Coastguard - What we do". Netherlands Coastguard. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
5. "Kustwacht" (in Dutch). Netherlands Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
6. "Director of the Netherlands Coastguard Nicole Kuipers". Netherlands Coastguard. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
7. "Historie" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Kustwacht. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
8. "Over ons" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Kustwacht. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
9. "Varende eenheden" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Kustwacht. Retrieved 23 January 2018.

External links

• Netherlands Coastguard