As the experts in polar zone navigation for more than 20 years, PONANT continues to innovate and advance maritime safety standards. Le Commandant Charcot was at the center of a second safety exercise in the polar region on September 30, 2023 at Herschel Island in the Northwest Passage.

The operation was supported by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre based at 8 Wing Trenton (Ontario, Canada), run jointly by the Royal Canadian Air force (RCAF) and Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). It involved the U.S. Coast Guard District Seventeen and Air Station Kodiak (Alaska) and a command unit at the PONANT head office in Marseille (France). This exercise spanned 10 time zones, with more than a hundred people were mobilized over a 12-hour period. PONANT teams aboard and ashore were fully mobilized in this exercise carried out on an unprecedented scale.

“We carried out a first rescue exercise on the ice in September 2021 during the ship’s trial voyage. This time, the operation took place in ice-free water. It’s a world first that allowed us to test our procedures and equipment, as well as the coordination with the Canadian and American services,” explained the Captain, Patrick Marchesseau, on Le Commandant Charcot. “This joint exercise and sharing of our expertise is contributing to advances in safety for the entire polar maritime and tourism industry”.

On board, 65 participants (including 24 passengers) were evacuated to an island in a heated lifeboat and then equipped with suits specially designed by PONANT. The Ice Cube, an innovative piece of kit that was also developed by PONANT to transport survival kits, was towed by the lifeboat and hoisted ashore and polar shelters were set up, some of which have been tested with a heating mode. The lifeboat was used as a hospital during the first part of the LIVEX. For this joint exercise, the Royal Canadian Air Force deployed a CC-130H Hercules, a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and a CC-138 Twin Otter and the United States Coast Guard deployed a C-130J Super Hercules and an MH-60T Jayhawk. The aircrafts were used to drop survival equipment, parachute in rescue teams and evacuate participants.

This joint exercise showcases extensive international collaboration aimed at strengthening maritime safety standards to benefit the entire industry.