We save lives at sea with no government funding

Served by volunteers

Swedish Sea Rescue Society is involved in approximately 90 percent of all sea rescues in Sweden and receives no government funding. The Society is financed by membership fees, donations and voluntary work. Despite this, or possibly as a result of this, the Society has doubled the number of sea rescue stations in recent years, tripled the number of rescue volunteers available and built 260 modern rescue vessels. This expansion has enabled Swedish Sea Rescue Society to meet its goal of departing within 15 minutes or less from the time an alarm is received. Crews live close to stations and conduct training several times a month. 

Thanks to 2.400 volunteer crew members, rescue services are always available 24 hours a day anywhere along the Swedish coast and on the major lakes. The volunteers work as carpenters, doctors, fishermen, salesmen, plumbers, teachers and many other occupations. The sea rescue volunteers are willing to go out in any weather, at any time even during normal work hours or in the middle of the night. 

The large degree of voluntary work enables the Swedish Sea Rescue Society to manage with a small administration, as much of the costs for normal activities are covered by membership fees. The Swedish Sea Rescue Society has more than 143 000 members.

Membership in Swedish Sea Rescue Society

In order to prevent accidents Swedish Sea Rescue Society offers a service to our members where they can call for assistance before the situation turns in to an emergency. This way a member can receive help in the event of motor breakdown, damaged rudder etc, even when it’s completely calm and no one is in immediate danger. We provide this preventative service as a way of thanking our members for their support which enables us to continue to do what is most important of all, saving lives at sea.

Membership fee: 850 Sek per year (January-December) or pensioners/youth 500 Sek. Lifetime membership fee: 25,000 Sek.

We will send a welcome letter to your stated address, with your membership sticker, which confirms your membership.

Payment instructions, how to become a member

  • Transfer your membership fee to Swedish bankgiro 900-5000 or Swedish plusgiro 90 05 00-0. Mark your payment with your name and address or
  • BankTransfer from abroad, mark your payment with your name and address as well as Swift/BIC DABASESX, IBAN/BIC: SE54 1200 0000 0120 2172 4158, Danske Bank Gothenburg.

Non-emergency help

Non-emergency help is requested by calling directly to the nearest rescue station (numbers listed on the membership sticker) or by dialing +46 200 29 00 90, where someone is on duty around the clock. Non-emergency help can be requested from the coast outwards to the centerline between Sweden and our neighboring countries, including the major lakes Vänern, Vättern and Mälaren (State search and rescue area). Also in the lakes Hjälmaren, Storsjön (Jämtland) and certain lakes in the Kronoberg region ( Municipal rescue areas). Members of the Swedish Sea Rescue Society are also eligible to receive help in Norway, Finland, Åland, Denmark and Estonia according to applicable terms and conditions in the respective country. Membership, and non-emergency help, is personal but covers the family, all who reside at the given address.

Membership includes

  • Membership sticker
  • Quarterly magazine in Swedish, “Trossen”
  • Non-emergency help
  • Help in contacting repairmen, boatyards and relatives

How it all started

There were many reasons for the formation of a Swedish non-governmental, national sea rescue society at the start of the 20th century. The storms of 1903 were one, a lack of interest on the part of the Swedish government was another, while the formation of a local sea rescue station at Stafsinge, in Halland in 1906 was a third. 

The person who probably contributed most during these early years was Albert Isakson, a marine construction engineer at Lloyds of London. Albert Isakson took part in the 1903 world conference on sea rescue in Germany, where two countries were highlighted for particularly poor provision of rescue service for shipwrecked mariners: Greece and Sweden! Isakson brought the message home to Sweden and was the driving force at a meeting in Stockholm on June 1st 1907. As a result of the discussions of the representatives for the Swedish shipping industry, the Swedish Sea Rescue Society was formed.

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