Merchantmen poorly suited for SAR ops
Merchant shipping was not equipped for or suited to assisting in the rescue of economic migrants and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa, according to senior coast guard and search and rescue officials from the region.
Speaking at the International Search and Rescue Conference in Brighton last week Brig (Retd) Martin Xuereb, former commander of the Maltese armed forces and current director of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, said that merchant ships were poorly suited to search and rescue operations.
‘The role of a merchant ship is to carry goods from A to B. They are
Our news & analysis is now part of Defence Insight®
A Basic-level or higher Defence Insight subscription is now required to view this content.
More from Naval Warfare
-
![US Navy expands non-standard acquisitions to rapidly field emerging technologies]()
US Navy expands non-standard acquisitions to rapidly field emerging technologies
The US Navy is increasing the use of OTA obligations to accelerate the procurement of seabed-subsea, littoral, expeditionary and uncrewed solutions.
-
![Can Portugal solve NATO’s uncrewed systems development challenge?]()
Can Portugal solve NATO’s uncrewed systems development challenge?
NATO has spent more than a decade building one of the world’s most sophisticated maritime uncrewed experimentation ecosystems, but still lacks a way to translate this testing into alliance-wide operational capability. Portugal now believes it has the answer.
-
![Eurosatory 2026: Schiebel’s frigate-first strategy indicates a shift in UAV competition]()
Eurosatory 2026: Schiebel’s frigate-first strategy indicates a shift in UAV competition
Schiebel is pursuing opportunities in the UK and France while leveraging its integration with Naval Group’s FDI frigate programme to create new naval business across Europe.
