News item | 25-04-2025 | 15:30
The Coast Guard Caribbean area invested a lot last year in training and training staff. The aim is to grow this year to an organization that can operate independently 24/7. That is why around 70 full -time functions are being added. This can be read in the 2024 Coast Guard Caribbean that appeared today.
Transforming to a 24-hour organization means that the Coast Guard can also be continuously used outside of emergency and emergency cases. This development requires an investment in personnel and equipment. The aim is to work via the so -called intelligence driven police action (IGP). This is based on timely information gathering, processing, enrichment and analysis, within the legal frameworks.
As a manager and budget holder, the Ministry of Defense is responsible for the Coast Guard. In addition, the Ministry of Defense is usually with a station ship in the Caribbean. The Coast Guard also has sailed days. However, there was no station ship in the 1st part of last year. That was because the navy was deployed in the Mediterranean and Red Sea for several missions, among other things.
Furthermore, the Coast Guard was struggling with problems around the cutters. Due to personnel shortages and technical problems, fewer sailing days were possible. This was especially true for the Panther (Aruba). The start of the replacement process of the cutters was one of the most important equipment projects before 2024. The Walradar capacity project also started last year.
Different tasks
The Coast Guard Caribbean is the maritime link in the law enforcement chain of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Tasks are performed for Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the public bodies Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The Coast Guard provides services such as Search and rescue. But also investigative and supervisory tasks and combating human trafficking, drug and human smuggling and irregular immigration are part of the work.