Willemstad – Damen Shiprepair Curaçao held on Saturday October 12 a security exercise for ships and port facilities in cooperation with local authorities and public emergency services. The International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) exercise is based on a comprehensive set of measures to improve ship and port facility security, developed in response to the perceived threats to ships and port facilities following the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
The public services that participated in this important exercise were the CPA (Curaçao Port Authority), the Maritime Authority Curaçao, the police, the Red Cross Curaçao and the ambulance service. Of course there were also ‘actors’: a combination of Red Cross volunteers and employees. This exercise is the necessary part of the continuous effort of all parties involved to keep the dock and port locations on Curaçao safe and to train all those involved to deal effectively with undesirable situations that may occur, expected or unexpected. Communication between government services and port authorities in particular is an important attention point.
The exercise, which lasted almost one and a half hour, dealt with a fake threat and tested the ability of security personnel, public emergency services and the cooperation of and with authorities in responding to a security threat. It successfully tested Damen’s general emergency plan, internal and external communication, the preparedness of external emergency services and also the cooperation of and with external services.
Damen Shiprepair Curaçao looks back on a successful exercise and trusts that their continuous efforts for safety and security will contribute to a greater awareness of the importance of the company and the port for Curaçao.
