Assessing the “Buddy System” to Enhance Cruise Vessel Safety in the Canadian Arctic: A Response Time Analysis

Climate change has led to increased cruise tourism in the Canadian Arctic. Vast distances, harsh environments, and the limited capacity of the Search and Rescue system, cause major concerns about the time for a rescue asset to arrive on scene in accidents involving large numbers of people. To reduce this risk, the implementation a “buddy system” has been put proposed, i.e. a system where two vessels navigate in each other’s vicinity, so that they can assist in case of an emergency. This article explores changes in response time to an incident location between a “buddy system” and independently operating cruise vessels. A quantitative model-based analysis, combining sea ice data, maritime network analysis with cost distance minimization, and data from the Automatic Identification System, is applied. Results indicate that a “buddy system” can have significant safety benefits. Nevertheless, a discussion points to future research needs to fill remaining knowledge gaps.