Email ahoy! Sailors get round-the-clock helpdesk

Sailors and nautical enthusiasts can now access maritime information 24 hours a day, thanks to a hotline and email address launched on 1 January by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Extra staff have been recruited at the Swansea-based Coastguard Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre to deal with the extra workload, whilst existing staff have been trained to handle specialist queries via phone and email.

A spokesman for the Agency said it wishes to make its information more accessible to customers whilst improving upon existing services. "The best way to be an open agency is via the phone and email," he added.

According to the spokesman, queries so far have ranged from safety issues and the weather, to information about scuba-diving courses. Sailors have called in the early hours of the morning to register their boat, while others have used the service to find out if a loved one has been involved in a rescue. He said the Agency "expects queries to become more unusual as more people learn about the service".

Response figures will be released at the end of the month. The Agency anticipates a flood of queries after an advertising campaign at next week's London Boat Show.