Print
  1. Home
  2. News & community
  3. News and media releases
  4. AMSA year in review 2019

AMSA year in review 2019

Friday 20 December 2019
Did you know we helped save the lives of 234 people in distress in 2019? Or that our AMSA Response Centre responded to 10,292 operational incidents? You might be surprised to learn we spent 856,200 minutes on the phone helping people with their enquiries—that’s the equivalent of 5.2 years!
amsa year in review

It’s all part of our commitment to maintain clean seas and save lives, but it didn’t just stop there.

This year, AMSA’s Challenger jet spent 850 hours in the air, took part in 192 search and rescue missions, and delivered 41 air droppable items. 

We conducted 1,937 Port state control inspections, detained 94 vessels and banned two ships from entering Australian ports. There were also 1,202 incidents involving domestic commercial vessels and 3,312 incidents involving foreign-flagged or regulated Australian vessels.

As part of our work to help light the way for vessels, we used 2,500 litres of paint to spruce up Commonwealth lighthouses and changed 50 lights on marine Aids to Navigation. We also inspected 300 sites, including lighthouses, navigation marks and radar beacons, and completed a whopping 2,300 maintenance work orders.

Just over 50,000 distress beacons were registered in 2019, bringing the total number of registered beacons in Australia to 627,480. Make 2020 the year you register or update your beacon registration details, to increase your chances of a quicker response when it’s needed most.

See our 2019 year in review figures:

Saving lives at risk

  • Operational incidents conducted: 10,292
  • Lives saved that were at risk: 234
  • Assets tasked: 704

Challenger jet

  • Number of tasks: 192
  • Number of air droppable items delivered: 41
    • 24 Self Locating Datum Marker Buoys - used to provide ocean drift and temperature to the AMSA Response Centre.
    • 1 EPIRB.
    • 5 VHF radios – used to communicate with the Challenger / rescue vessels.
    • 9 satellite phones – used to communicate with the AMSA Response Centre.
    • 2 dewatering pumps – used to expel water from vessels when damaged.
  • Number of hours in the air: 850
  • Number of multi-agency search and rescue exercises: 3

Keeping connected

  • Calls handled: 136,992
  • Minutes on the phone: 856,200 or 5.2 years!
  • Number of cases: 26,148
  • Number of walk-ins in regional offices: 2,082
  • Longest customer interaction: 2 hours and 12 minutes

Beacons

Beacons registered: 50,001

  • EPIRBs - 29,721
  • PLBs - 19,688
  • ELTs - 592

Total number of beacons registered (all time): 627,480

  • EPIRBs - 429,034
  • PLBs - 180,569
  • Others are ELTs and test beacons, etc.

When a beacon is registered, renewed, or updated, the system generates proof of registration. During this period there were 1,435,665 interactions.

  • 158,443 text messages sent
  • 1,277,222 emails sent

Inspections

  • Number of Port state control inspections:  1,937
  • Number of Port state control detentions: 94
  • Number of ships banned: 2
  • Letters of warning: 3

Certificates assessed and issued

  • Domestic qualifications: 9042
  • International qualifications: 3913
  • Domestic vessel permissions: 9222

Marine incidents

  • Domestic Commercial Vessels reported incidents: 1,202
  • Foreign flagged / regulated Australian vessels reported incidents: 3,312

AMSA on the road

  • Events we went to: 15
  • Enquiries at events: 1,461
  • Safety Management System workshops run: 52 
  • Number of workshop attendees: 530

Helping to light the way – AtoN maintenance

  • Aids to Navigation sites visited: 300
  • Hours in helicopter flights: 500 hours
  • Work orders completed: 2,300
  • Litres of paint used: 2,500
  • Lights changed: 50

Download our colourful infographic 2019 AMSA wrap-up. (PNG 366 KB) (IMAGE 336.82 KB)

wrap up

Related news