PHUKET: Adm Choengchai Chomchoengphaet, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy, was in Phuket yesterday (June 24) as Navy personnel conducted a medivac exercise with the ‘Spectrum of the Seas’ cruise liner off Phuket.
The exercise, conducted in deep water just outside Ao Makham, off Phuket’s east coast, used a Navy S-76B helicopter to airlift a patient to safety and emergency medical services.
Adm Choengchai explained that the exercise was conducted as part of Thailand’s obligations as a party to a convention by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
During an assessment by the IMO on Feb 20-27 this year, it was “found” that Thailand had no specific organisation dedicated to conducting air and sea search and rescue services for foreign passenger ships that enter and leave the country regularly. In Thailand, all air-sea rescue services are performed by the Royal Thai Navy.
“I chose to train with the ‘Spectrum of the Seas’ because it is the largest foreign cruise ship that regularly enters Thailand,” Adm Choengchai said.
“The ship has been regularly arriving in Thailand since Oct 29, 2022, and comes every Saturday. It is considered the ship that enters and leaves Thailand most often at this time,” he added.
The ‘Spectrum of the Seas’ is 347 metres long and 49.24m wide, with a displacement of 169,379 tons. The cruise liner can accommodate up to 4,905 passengers (excluding crew), has 2,100 rooms, and has a travel speed of 22 knots.
The ship is the first Quantum Ultra class cruise liner. It sails the Andaman Sea. and drops anchor at Patong Bay. The ship will later regularly drop anchor at Makham Bay, said an official report of the exercise.
Adm Choengchai thanked Royal Caribbean International, which operates Spectrum of the Seas’, and all else who took part in and made the exercise a success.
Ensuring the security and safety of tourists visiting on foreign ships was an important part of Thailand’s economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
“Since October 2022, there have been 83 visits by cruise ships coming into the country, both in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, bringing more than 310,000 tourists, which have generated more than B1.8 billion in income,” Adm Choengchai noted.
